Forget Me Not
by ZorpoxTheConqueror
Summary: Epilogue to Zorpox: Stratagem. How will Ron, and especially Kim, deal with the after effects of Zorpox's most recent plot?
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N **Wow, four months. Way longer than I really wanted between the last story and this epilogue, but between being busy, a bit of writer's block, and not feeling like working on this particular story, this had taken a lot longer than I'd have liked it to. But, finished now.  
_

_First, and most important: this leads into So the Drama, and has more than a few spoilers, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, go get that done first. If you have seen it, well, might be a good time to review it; it's good to watch regardless._

_Second, thanks to Eddy13 who kept poking me every month or so to try and get something done, and beta checking everything._

_And, without further ado, on to the story:_

* * *

_They both made their way to his room, and Kim went in before Monique could. Ron looked up when she walked in, and seemed surprised when she rushed over to his bed. Kim grabbed his arm and starting talking nonstop. "Ron, I'm so glad you're awake and I'm so sorry you got hurt but now you're better and I hope nothing like this ever happens again, don't scare me like that...Ron, are you okay?" Ron looked at her, confused._

"_Yeah, yeah I'm fine, but I have to ask...who are you?"_

Kim opened her mouth in shock, then felt her legs go out from under her. She fell backward, just barely catching the chair Felix had pushed toward her. She sat for a second to regain her equilibrium, then jumped back up, moving over to Ron's bed. "Wha-what? Don't you remember me? We've been friends forever." She turned to her mother, accusingly. "You said he was fine!"

Ann Possible was just as confused as she was. "I-I thought he was. He woke up and recognized people, called them by name." She stared at him suspiciously. Was he playing a trick on them?

Ron groaned quietly. "Don't...talk about me like I'm not here. What's going on, Mrs Dr P? Who is she-I don't remember." He squeezed his eyes shut, and frowned in concentration. "I remember my parents, Rufus, Felix, Monique, you...but I don't ever remember seeing her before."

Kim reached down and grabbed Ron's hand. "Don't you remember? We met in preschool, and we did everything together. You help me save the world." At this point, she started to tear up. "And-and then you got hurt...but mom said you were better." She bit her lip, and looked again at Ron, before dashing out of the room.

Ann moved to follow her, but Monique stepped in front. "I'll get her, Mrs Possible. You just figure out what's wrong with Ron." She turned and went out, hoping she could find Kim. Fortunately, she was waiting just outside the door, leaning against the wall. Tears were running down her face, and she wasn't really looking at anything. Monique stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Kim, and led her into the nearby waiting room.

After a few minutes, Kim had calmed down enough that she could talk. "I-I'm sorry about that. It's just that...I thought everything was alright...it sounded like Ron was fine..." She felt her eyes burning again.

"And you weren't expecting this."

Kim nodded, then said softly, "No...I thought everything was back to normal-but Monique...it's not just that he lost his memory-I could handle that. It's _me._ It's me he doesn't remember." She looked at her friend with blurry eyes.

"Girl, what's wrong? This isn't just about Ron losing his memory, is it?"

"I-It's just that I always watch out for him, and I always know that I have him to fall back on. Bu-But if he doesn't remember me, it's like none of it happened. All our years of friendship, just gone-and it's all my fault." Kim grabbed Monique's hand and squeezed tightly.

"All your fault? Why-is this about the missions?"

Kim nodded. "He always comes along, he wants to help me. I'm supposed to protect him, to watch out for him, but I ended up hurting him. I didn't have control of the situation, there wasn't anything I could do; I felt helpless, Zorpox had won. Then he stopped, so I kicked him, hoping I could use that chance to escape-and instead, Ron got shocked." She started sobbing again, and barely managed to get out, "The-the last thing he said was 'KP' a-and now he-he doesn't remember me."

X X X X

In the hospital room, Ron couldn't figure out what was going on. Everyone was giving him dirty looks, even Rufus, but he couldn't think of anything that he'd done wrong. Ron looked to his friend for support, and Felix just shook his head. "Dude, how can you not remember her? You've known her longer than you've known _me_. Cmon, Kim Possible...saves the world...your best friend since forever. Help me out."

"I-I can't. I'm trying to remember, I feel it's important, but I can't remember." Ron closed his eyes tight and searched his memory, but couldn't find any images of...her. He couldn't even remember her name! He thought back to what Felix said-Kim Possible. No matter how hard he thought, the name didn't mean anything to him.

Ron looked at Felix sadly and shook his head. Mrs Stoppable looked at Ann Possible and asked the question on everyone's mind. "How is this possible? How can he remember everything but Kim?" She couldn't believe this was happening-it was like something out of bad dream.

"Well, when I was doing scans of Ron's brain, and while it was pulling itself back together, I noticed there were some holes-areas he couldn't access...I think those were his memories of Kim. We need to do another brain scan and see what his brain looks like." Ann walked over to the intercom and put in a call for a wheelchair, then helped Ron to sit up.

As she was helping Ron, Kim and Monique walked back in, Kim looking much worse than when she left. Her eyes were red, but she seemed to have regained some of her strength. She looked toward her mom, a question in her eyes.

Ann explained what she thought was wrong, then leaned her head out the door. The timing was perfect, as a nurse was just arriving with the wheelchair. Ann thanked her, then rolled it in the room. She went over and grabbed one of Ron's arms, while Kim stepped up and grabbed the other. They sat him in the chair, but when Ann went to push the wheelchair, Kim was already there. "I'll get him, mom."

The adult looked uncertain, but nodded the go ahead to her daughter. "You know where to take him, Kim. I'll be along in a second, I need to get some things first." Kim nodded, then wheeled him out into the hall. She was at the end of the hall before she realized that no one was following them. She knew they were giving her an opportunity to talk with Ron, so she took it.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Ron beat her to it. "I-I'm sorry, this must be hard on you...Kim...if we've been friends for that long and I can't remember you." Ron turned to look at her, and she could see the distress on his face. "Part of me feels that I know you, but I can't..." He put his hands to his head and groaned.

"Ron? Ron, are you okay?" She leaned over, a concerned look on her face.

He shook his head, then looked at her. "I'm fine, just had a headache there for a second. No problem."

She looked unconvinced, but didn't say anything. They went the rest of the way in silence, uncertain of what to say to each other. Kim rolled Ron into the room, and within five minutes her mother showed up. Ann quickly set up the scanner, then had Ron lay down on the table in the center of the room. She walked over to the control panels nearby and punched up the brain scan.

Directly across from her, the far wall lit up with diagrams of Ron's brain. Ann walked over and looked at the scan, noting some differences from the earlier test. Kim walked over and looked at the scans, but wasn't as good at figuring it out. She gave her mom a questioning glance, so Ann explained.

"See here, and here," she pointed out two specific points, "His brain can't access these areas." She turned to Ron. "Ronald, think about something, like playing games with Felix." He did, and areas of the scan lit up with activity. "Now, see if you can think about Kim." The activity in his brain seemed to be focused around the blank areas, but there was no activity in the area. "See, for some reason he can't remember the memories in these areas."

Suddenly, the activity changed from a light green, to yellow, then to an angry red. Ann turned, then gasped. Ron's looked to be in agony, and he had his hands on his head. Ann rushed over. "Ron...Ron focus on me." His eyes snapped open, and he stared at her. He seemed to calm down, and his brain activity dropped.

Kim looked to her mom for answers. Ann took a deep breath, "Kimmie, I think he was trying too hard. He needs to just take things easy. I'm sure that with a little work, the memories will come back. We just have to make sure he doesn't force them."

Ron looked up at them. "I'm sorry..."

Ann stopped him. "You don't have anything to be sorry for." She looked at Kim. "I'll go over the data, and see if we can't figure out some way to jump start his memories. In the meantime, other than his memory and those scratches on his face, he's fine. We can check you out, Ron, as long as you don't over exert yourself."

Ron sat up, then slid off the table. He grabbed the edge to steady himself, then tried to take a step. He faltered, so Kim grabbed his arm. He smiled in thanks, then took a couple more steps, finally getting the confidence to walk by himself. The three of them went into the hall and met up with everyone else. They went down to a conference lounge.

After everyone had sat down, Ann stood up to talk. "As near as I can tell, the memories are there, but he can't access them. The connection's just not there. It almost looks like his brain has rewired itself to avoid these areas of his mind. Anytime he really focuses on these areas, he gets a headache, so we're just going to have to let the memories come back on their own. I think this first major area is his memories of the last two weeks. I'm not sure if those memories will ever come back; the second area is memories of Kim. I'm sure if he just spends some time with Kim, things will start to come back."

Monique spoke up. "So basically, your telling them to go out and do things they normally do."

Ann blinked. "I guess I am..."

Ron grinned. "Sounds good to me, who's up for some Bueno Nacho?"

X X X X

Mrs Possible still had some other things to take care of at work, and Ron's parents had other plans, so the four teens decided to go to the Tex-Mex Restaurant. They all ordered, grabbed their food, then went over to their usual booth. Ron sat down, then Kim slid in beside him. Monique was a little surprised that Kim chose to sit by him, but chalked it up to the events of the last couple of weeks. She sat across from them, and Felix rolled his wheelchair up to the table.

Kim looked at Ron. "So, now what?"

Ron looked back. "'Now what' what?"

The red head rolled her eyes. "What do we do next?"

"I didn't think that far ahead. I haven't had Bueno Nacho in forever."

Kim just sighed and looked at Monique for help. She turned to Felix, and Felix just stared back. "Umm." Monique thought for a second. "You two always watch movies together, right? Pick something to go see."

"Well, usually it's Ron that picks the movies..." Kim turned back to him again.

"I can't remember anything from the past two weeks, so I don't have a clue what's on. Not to mention I can't remember what type of movie you'd want to see. You know me so well, pick something we'd both want to see."

Kim frowned in thought, running through a list of movies to see if there was anything good on. For the most part, there weren't any good movies showing...but there might be one..."I have an idea...you always liked the Bricks of Fury series...they're supposed to be doing a musical or something."

"A musical?"

Kim nodded. "Yeah, that was kind of my reaction too. But of a list of very bad choices, that's the only one that might be good. It's either that or Night of the Fallen Star."

Ron grimaced. "I don't know what that is, but it sounds like a chick flick. Okay, Bricks of Fury: The Musical it is. Are you guys coming?"

Felix opened his mouth. "It sounds interes-" He broke off as Monique 'accidentally' elbowed him.

"Actually, as good as that sounds, we really need to be getting home. I need to go, and Felix said he'd carry some of my things for me."

Ron was confused. "What things?"

Kim smiled slightly. "Better question: don't you guys live on opposite sides of town?"

Felix tried to think fast. "Yeah, but...uh, Monique needed me to do something with her computer...set up a webcam, and...then her mom said she'd drive me home."

Kim eyed her. "Don't you already have a-"

"Love to chat, gotta go, bye." Monique rushed it all out, grabbed Felix, and they were quickly gone.

Ron looked at Kim. "That was weird."

Kim nodded. "About as weird as when you tried to climb the Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Center to see if the star on top was made of chocolate." He looked at her. "It wasn't, by the way."

"Seeing as I don't remember that, I won't dignify it with a response. So, uh, Kim, are we going to go see this movie?"

"Right." They were finished eating, so Kim helped Ron gather the trash, then dumped it in one of the trash cans. After that had been taken care of, Kim grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him out of Bueno Nacho, in the direction of the movie theater.

Z Z Z Z

Shego groaned, and woke up, but didn't open her eyes. She tried to remember what she'd been doing, and how she ended up here, but everything was still a little fuzzy. She was laying on her back on some sort of hard surface, probably a table. Shego knew she couldn't figure out anything else without opening her eyes, so she opened them and blinked twice. As they focused, she saw a blue face an inch from her.

Shego screamed loudly. The blue man pulled his head back and yelled too. He backpedaled, tripped over something on the ground, and landed in a heap. Slowly, Shego's eyes focused, and she looked around. She realized that she'd been knocked out and taken to their alpine lair for medical treatment. She relaxed, realizing that the face she'd seen had been Drakken and not the hated Zorpox. As soon as she realized this, she got up and stared angrily at Drakken. "What were you doing?"

Drakken wore a hurt expression. "I was just making sure you were okay-you took a nasty hit there." Dr Drakken pointed to a spot on her head.

She reached up and felt just above her right eye. She touched a small lump on her head, and hissed at the pain. "What...what happened...wait, I remember, Zorpox-he knocked me out!" Shego was outraged-and embarrassed. She'd fallen for the oldest trick in the book. Zorpox had feigned being unconscious, and like an idiot, she'd fallen for it. But if they were here in this lair... "Kimmie beat Zorpox, didn't she?"

Drakken frowned slightly. "I don't know. I dragged you out of there, and headed here first. I haven't heard anything from him, so I think she won." He looked at her uncertainly. "That's...um, that's good, right?"

She growled, but nodded. She looked at Drakken, and there was something about the way he was looking at her. "What is it? Do I have something on my face?"

"Somehow, I still think that you should bleed green..." Shego narrowed her eyes and looked like she was going to comment on that, so he continued quickly. "Um, I mean I have a new plan."

Shego groaned. "I don't even get a day off! Fine, Dr D, what's this new plan?"

"Well, I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I do have a promising start..." He motioned to the door, then walked out, Shego following him. "I've decided that even though Zorpox was working against us, his training was good-" He ignored Shego's exclamation of disbelief. "-Research, Shego, that's the key. I've already set up a number of research projects, but I need your help." He stopped outside a door, then punched in a pass code. The door slid open, and he walked in, Shego right behind him.

He motioned for her to sit down, then sat across from her. He turned on the main screen, and a man appeared on it. Shego was surprised. "Mr Nakasumi? We already tried using his technology to make your giant robot-"

Drakken interrupted. "No, not his factory, I want Nakasumi himself."

"What?" Shego frowned. "Why do you want him-decided to switch jobs and you need a reference? 'Yes, I know Dr Drakken-brilliant scientist, very knowledgeable. Did I mention in his past job he wanted to take over the world?'"

Drakken looked at her tiredly, skipping the verbal sparring. "Shego, grow up-I'm trying to take over the world here." Her eyes widened, but he continued before she could say anything else. "Nakasumi has something I want-you will go get it. Period."

The green villainess nodded. Okay, she could play this game too. "Fine, Dr Drakken, I'll get Nakasumi. When? Now?"

He shook his head and stood back up. "Later-for now, follow me."

She did, obediently. Shego wondered, however, what the mad doctor was planning.

X X X X

Shego was surprised when Drakken led her to the training room. The training room was a mid-sized room full of weightlifting equipment and foam mats, a place for her to teach the henchmen-or at least try to teach them; her results had been less than stellar. She was even more surprised to see Drakken's entire group of henchmen, nearly 150 men, seemingly waiting for them. She gave Drakken a questioning glance, but he ignored her.

Instead, Drakken motioned to the first four men, and they stepped forward. They stepped into a small circle on the floor, then stood, waiting. Drakken put out his hand, and Shego took her cue, stepping on the mat. The four henchmen stepped toward her, then rushed at her.

It was beyond easy for Shego to deal with them. She dropped under one's wild grab and hit him in the jaw, knocking him out. She spun and kicked a second one in the stomach, lifting him off his feet and flinging him off the mat. He landed hard, but she missed it, instead focusing on the next person attacking her. He tried to kick her, so she grabbed his foot, then yanked him and pivoted. With a wild swing, she slammed him into the last henchman, then turned and looked at Drakken, as if asking 'what now?'

The doctor just ginned. "Next."

Four more stepped forward. She dealt with them just as easily. Shego kicked one in the head, and chopped another in the throat; they were both out for the count. The last two, however, were smarter. One distracted her from the front, while the other sneaked up from behind and grabbed her. Before the first one could take the opportunity, however, she stomped on the foot of the one holding her, and struck back with an elbow. He grimaced, and she spun and knocked him out. The fourth one charged her, and she let loose with a shot to the groin. Many of the men watching winced.

"Next."

Shego fought the next four, and beat through them easily too; but now she was getting tired. She started to turn to Drakken and ask what was going on, but he was already continuing.

"Next."

With a growl she turned and took them out faster than she had the first group. She finally got Drakken's attention. "What are you doing? Are you bored and what to watch the henchmen get beat up?"

The doctor shook his head. "Shego, you're good, great even-you can keep up with Kim Possible." He motioned with his hand. "But they can't-they lose, always. They only beat her by pure numbers-there's more of them than she can possible hope to beat...but some of them might actually be good in a fight-take Walters and Randalf..." He motioned to the one that had tried to hold Shego, and the other that was going to attack her. "They weren't so bad, were they? I'm only going to keep the best ten henchmen that I've got-and you, Shego, are going to pick them."

He gave a small, wicked grin. "Of course, if you're getting tired, then go ahead and take a break...I mean, the great Kim Possible couldn't beat them all, so what chance would you have?"

Shego gave him a hateful glare, one that promised revenge for his comments. She turned back to the rest of the henchmen. She spoke loudly, confidently.

"Next."

Z Z Z Z

When they had arrived at the movie theater, Kim had gone to get their tickets, while Ron went after the food. He was surprised to see Zita working the concessions stand. He walked up to her, intent on getting the food, but she beat him to the punch. "Ron, hi. Are you here by yourself, or with Kim?"

"Um..." Ron frowned. "With Kim?" He sounded unsure of himself.

Zita smiled. "So you'll want your usual, right?

"I guess so...what's our usual?"

Zita's smile faded. "I don't know, you tell me. I don't usually work the concessions stand, but I got called in since I'm familiar with the theater." She shrugged. "Um, it's you and Kim, right, so maybe two medium popcorns? Do you need something to drink? Any candy? What about Rufus-does he want some nachos and cheese?"

As Zita talked, Ron's eyes got larger and larger, and he started to freak out. "I-I-I don't know, I don't know what Kim wants. What does Kim want?" Ron looked at Zita, his eyes pleading for answers. "Do you know what Kim wants?"

If Ron wasn't freaking out so much, it would almost be funny-him asking what to get for his best friend. Zita shook her head, then got ready to say she didn't know, but saw movement behind Ron. "K-Kim, hi, we were just talking about you." The red head looked at her suspiciously, and protectively stepped beside Ron.

"Is...there something wrong here?" Kim watched Zita carefully.

Ron spoke up. "No-no, I just don't know what you want to get."

"Oh." Kim was relieved, although she didn't know why. "Um, we'll take a large popcorn and two small cokes." She looked at Ron for confirmation, but he was still confused, so he just nodded to whatever she said. Kim continued to watch Zita, then thanked her after getting the food. She grabbed Ron's hand and pulled him toward the theater, getting one last parting look at Zita. The sales woman didn't know what she'd done to upset Kim, but hoped it wasn't anything bad.

X X X X

The movie was horrible; the acting was bad, the music was poor, and Ron was pretty sure that they had used fake bricks. Even still, it was a Bricks of Fury movie, so Ron enjoyed it...sort of. He stood and stretched as the credits rolled, then turned and started to walk out of the theater. He paused when he realized that Kim wasn't behind him. He turned, and grinned.

His best friend was sprawled out in her seat; feet extended, hands across her chest, asleep. She was oblivious to the world, and this gave Ron an evil idea. He went around to the row behind her, then sneaked up to her seat. He stood over her and brought his finger up, then started flicking her ear. She raised a hand up to swat at it, but Ron jerked his hand back. He did it again, and again she missed. He did it a third time and got the surprise of his life.

With a loud war-cry, Kim woke up and immediately defended herself. She had trained herself to react defensively in case her brothers were bothering her, or if she should be attacked by one of her foes. She flipped backward, up over Ron's head, then landed behind him. She grabbed his arm and pressed it against his back, then bent him forward over the seat.

She got her own surprise, however, when Ron's left foot shot out backward, against the front of her shin. As she fell to the side, Ron twisted in her grip, freeing himself. He then spun around and fell with her, pinning her to the ground. She stared up in shock.

"Where'd you learn to do that?"

As soon as Ron realized what he'd done, he jumped up off of her, and pulled her to her feet. "Oh, man, I'm so sorry Kim. I didn't hurt you, did I?" He frowned as he thought about what just happened. "Wait a minute, _you_ attacked _me_!" He stared at her with narrowed eyes.

"Come on, Ron, it's no big. You know, it goes with fighting villains all the time." She briefly explained about how they saved the world from villains. "But where _did_ you learn to do that?"

Ron was as confused as she was. "You mean flip you over? I don't know, it just sorta came to me. I just acted instinctively."

Kim wasn't convinced. "Ron, I've never seen you do anything like that before. The only time you've done something like that..." Everything clicked into place. "...was when you were Zorpox." Kim frowned in thought. After Ron had been Zorpox the first time, he'd been able to repair the attitudinator helmet, and used it on his evil cousin; she hadn't really given it any thought then, but maybe there was something to this.

She pulled out the Kimmunicator and contacted Wade. He appeared on screen, and asked about Ron. "Kim, is Ron doing any better? Monique and Felix told me what happened, how you went to the movies-anything?"

She shook her head. "No, but can you do a scan for me?" She explained her thought. "Is it possible that Zorpox's intelligence could have been...transfered to Ron?"

"Well, not exactly." Wade looked down, then back at Kim. "The attitudinator doesn't enhance the brain waves of people that it's used on; all it does is chance their morality from good to evil-whatever intelligence is there is all Ron's."

"So if Zorpox was able to do all that stuff, it's because those were some of Ron's latent talents?"

Wade seemed to mull it over. "Yeah, it would have to be; but chances are they're buried so deep, it took something like a total brain re-write to bring them to the front-Zorpox was the one that tapped into his potential, instead of Ron."

"So wait...are we saying that Ron is a genius?"

"Not really. I mean sure, deep down, he's got the potential to be brilliant-but so does everyone else-even you, Kim. It has to do with his knowledge, the way he applies himself, even his IQ, all boiled down together to determine what he can and can't do. Zorpox just seems to be be much, much better at applying himself than anyone else I've ever seen." He finally shrugged. "I guess we can do some tests, if you want. Take Ron back to your house, and we can use your computer to get a baseline. We can test him every day or so, and see if anything changes."

Kim nodded, and motioned her friend to follow her. Ron did, matching her pace a few steps behind, watching her warily. After her little impromptu Kung Fu demonstration, he wasn't about to get any closer to her for the time being. He followed at a respectful distance, all the way back to her home. He was actually so focused on maintaining his distance that he tripped almost a half dozen times, on uneven sidewalks, sticks and twigs, even his own two feet. The last time came as they had reached Kim's house; she paused on the front steps, and Ron was so focused that he didn't see the front step. He careened forwards, right into Kim's back, both teens tumbling into the house.

The red headed teen let loose a growl from the floor, then pressed upwards, feeling Ron slide off her back. She sighed, then reached down to pull him to his feet, rolling her eyes as she spoke. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know."

Ron reached up to rub his nose. "You already did." He sniffed a few times, rubbing up and down the bridge, his eyes watering. "Do you think it's broken?"

"If it was broken, I'm pretty sure you'd know. Now, come on, lets go upstairs and get Wade to do those tests for us." She looked towards the wall clock. "It's getting pretty late already, and we've got school tomorrow. I don't want to keep you over too long."

He seemed not to have heard her, still looking and rubbing his nose. "It looks crooked. Do you think my nose is crooked?"

His best friend rolled her eyes, finally putting an arm around him and leading him upstairs. "Wimp."

Z Z Z Z

After they peeled the last henchman off the mat, Drakken nodded, like he had all the info he needed. Shego waited until the last man was out of the room before collapsing. She may be good, but even with her glow power, she was only human-and fighting a hundred plus people was exhausting. She gave herself a few seconds to breathe, before launching herself at Drakken. She grabbed him by the collar and let her hands glow.

Her voice took on a threatening tone. "If you ever, _ever_ use Kimmie like that to get me to do something again, they won't find your body for weeks."

Drakken was unconcerned. "Do you have the ten henchmen selected?"

She dropped him, then rattled off ten names. "Now, are you going to tell me what this is about?"

"All in due time, Shego. Go ahead and take the rest of the day off...good job, Shego." He walked away.

He left her confused. Was this really Dr Drakken, the crazy scientist that she'd worked for over these last few years? He seemed like a different person now, calm, in control...competent. Drakken...competent. No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't get those two words to go together.

X X X X

As Drakken walked out of the room, he considered his newest plan. Putting Zorpox's training to use, he was thinking this plan out, step by step; but most importantly, he was the boss. Things weren't like they were before-Shego had always treated him with contempt, treated him as a footstool even though she should follow his orders; usually it ended up with him doing whatever she said under threat of pain. No more.

No, Drakken had a new idea, a perfect idea-a plan that had begun in his old lair, just before Zorpox blew everything up. But even as good as the plan was, there was still one major flaw. Her. Kim Possible. It didn't matter what he did, how he thought things through, she was still better than he was-better even than Shego. Still, she had to have a weakness-everyone did. With just a little research, he would know...and then the world would be his. Drakken chuckled.

It was even better than that, however. After watching Zorpox work, he had realized some other things, too. First off, the blond sidekick had kept his entire plan secret, even from Shego-and the villainess hadn't been able to figure things out. Not only hadn't she been able to figure things out, he had managed to catch Kim Possible off guard, too-and he had been right. Without any of the normal information leaks, from supply gathering, or henchmen knowing what was going on, the villain had been able to keep Kim totally in the dark. Drakken intended to follow the same ideas, and keep this plan under wraps. No one, not even Shego, would know anything about this plan, not until it was too late to stop it.

Z Z Z Z

"All right, Kim, I've finished the test, and now I'll just have to compile the data. It will probably take the next couple of days to get any results, since I'll have to see if there are any differences between one day to the next. I'll keep you informed."

She nodded, watching as her friend cut the connection. She placed the Kimmunicator on it's charging cradle, then turned back to Ron. He was still rubbing a hand up and down his nose. "Does it still hurt?"

Ron blinked a bit, then shook his head. "Not really...well, maybe, sorta, a little." He frowned. "Now my head hurts."

Kim moved forward, concerned. "Did you hit your head that hard?" She grabbed his head carefully, tilting his head back, looking at his eyes. He quickly shook her off.

"No, not because of my nose. All those questions Wade was asking." He motioned back towards her computer. "Math really isn't my thing. But...you should know that, right Kim?"

She rolled her eyes at his suspicious tone. "Excuse me for being concerned about you. Yes, I know that you're bad at math, don't like English, can't stand monkeys, and can never get along with Mr Barkin. I also know that you love chimeritos, enjoy playing racing games, and cry during emotionally touching scenes in movies."

"Do not! I-I just got something in my eye at the exact time that man was talking, about the way they took his dog..." Ron lost focus for a second, his eyes starting to water. "They...they took his dog Kim, how could they?"

Kim just shook her head, teasing him a bit. "Come on, Ron, it's no big, I'm sure all big 'manly' men cry at emotion scenes like that."

Ron looked out of the corner of his eye, "Are you mocking me?"

"Nooooo." She drew the word out, then smiled, holding her thumb and finger close to each other. "Well, maybe a bit. Come on, let's get you home, we'll talk more in the morning. It's getting late, and we have school, remember?"

As Ron followed her downstairs, he whined at her. "Aww, come on, I've lost my memory, and I don't even get a day out of school? This totally tanks."


	2. Chapter 2

**_A/N_ **_As always, thanks to Eddy13 for beta checking, and managing to catch an error just before I posted this chapter._

_This chapter starts to do some real exploring of some things in So the Drama, so again, if you haven't seen it yet, might check it out, so I don't ruin any surprises._

* * *

The next day, Ron found himself walking down the sidewalk, heading for Kim's house. The teen walked up to the Possibles' home and opened the door. He stood just inside the living room and called for Kim. He heard her voice from the kitchen and suddenly felt terrified. He shook it off, then wandered in.

Kim was at the oven, just pulling out a batch of cookies. She laid them out on the counter, then took off the oven mitts. She went over to Ron and grabbed his hands, then sat him at the table. She smiled big, and grabbed a cookie for Ron. Just at the same time, the tweebs came downstairs.

"Noooooo!" The twins stood in shock, torn between rushing forward to help Ron, and dashing to their escape rocket in the backyard. Even as they watched undecided, Ron raised the cookie to his mouth and stuck it in. The twins screamed again, then ran out into the backyard. Kim growled at the tweebs, then turned to Ron to see his reaction.

The first bite of the cookie wasn't bad, but on the second Ron bit into something doughy. Ron continued to chew, then tried to swallow the cookie. It wouldn't go down. He swallowed again, this time harder, and it got lodged in his throat. He felt brief panic, then swallowed again, harder, and finally managed to get it down. Ron looked at her smiling face, and knew he couldn't say anything was wrong-she'd be devastated. "They, uh, they're good." He looked at her, hoping she didn't hear the catch in his voice.

It looked like she took the compliment at face value. "I was going to make them last night with mom's help, but she got called in late last night, so we didn't have time. I made them this morning before you got here. I got up kinda late, so I had to cook them faster." Kim had figured that if it took 30 minutes at 450 degrees, she could do it in half the time at 900. She beamed at him. "Want another?"

"NO!...no, um, I'm sure that you want to save some for everyone else, I couldn't eat another." Kim gave him a funny look, and he realized that if he didn't have another, she'd be suspicious. "Okay, one more...then you can give the twins some." He reached his hand out slowly, hesitantly, then seemed to gather his courage. He reached out and grabbed a cookie that looked better, and quickly popped it in his mouth. It didn't go down any easier.

Fortunately for Ron, he must have been a better actor than he thought. Kim didn't seem to sense anything amiss, so when she turned her back, he sighed in relief. Unfortunately, this was just the time that Kim's mother decided to walk in. "Good Morning, Ron. Did you bring us more cookies?" She reached her hand out for one of the larger ones.

Kim perked up. "No, mom, I made those this morning."

Mrs. Possible jerked her hand back like it'd been burned. "You, ah, you made those yourself...without any help?"

Kim gave her a hurt look. "I _can_ make cookies, _mom_, it's no big-right, Ron?" She turned to him, waiting for his vote of confidence.

The teen missed Ron's look of panic, but her mom didn't. By the time Kim had turned, Ron was sitting there smiling. "Yeah, it's no big. You can make cookies." Ann saw the pleading look in his eyes, so she stepped in.

"Oh, I'm sure it was no problem." She changed the subject. "Kim, why don't you go see if your father's ready for breakfast, or if he needs some more time on his project." Kim nodded, then walked to the door. "And make sure he knows there's no bacon, I haven't been to the store." As soon as Kim had gone, Ann rushed over to Ron and checked him over. "How are you feeling?"

Ron grabbed his stomach, then looked at her sadly. "I'm feeling crummy in the tummy." He dashed up to the bathroom. Ann knew exactly what he was doing, after having her own run ins with Kim's cooking. Soon he came back down, looking paler, but better.

Ann Possible had already taken the cookies and placed them in a container in the far back of the cabinet. She'd given the container the special label that they'd created to warn them that Kim was cooking again. After her husband and the twins had gotten a hold of some of Kim's leftovers, they decided that they needed some way to prevent certain death. Ann turned to Ron, then asked carefully, "How many?"

"Two, sh-she wouldn't let me just stop at one." Ron cringed just thinking about it.

"You poor thing."

Ron looked at her accusingly. "Why didn't you tell me her cooking could kill an elephant?"

Ann frowned. "It just slipped my mind-_everyone_ knows to avoid Kim's cooking. I guess this _is_ my way of telling you."

Ron just thumped his head down on the table.

Luckily, by the time Kim came back, his color had returned to normal.

Z Z Z Z

Drakken whistled to himself, happily, but way off key. He didn't care, however, because he had something that he'd never had before. An idea to a plan that should finally, ultimately work. As he strolled down the halls, he couldn't help but notice that the halls seemed emptier than he could ever remember. After firing so many of his henchmen, he was left with just a handful of men.

As he walked into the wing of his lair devoted to his superweapons, he smirked. He may have gotten rid of his most useless henchmen, but he still had a number of able researchers. As he passed one room, he looked in the glass window, spotting a couple of men working over some sort of aquarium tank. The blue doctor shook his head. Mutant life forms had never really been his thing, but that's why he was having his men research it.

He passed a few more open cambers, filled with other men working, before he reached the final room in his tour. Drakken paused, then walked up to the glass, looking at the man inside. He tapped the intercom. "Stevens, progress report!"

The researcher popped his head up, turning to Drakken, then looked down at his page of notes. He stood, then walked over closer to the intercom, and began explaining the results of his research. Drakken, impressed, took it all in. They was information here of more worth than he was expecting...

Z Z Z Z

After breakfast, Kim went back up to her room to get her things for school, and Ron waited at the bottom of the stairs. He looked at the wall, and saw lots of picture of Kim and the twins, and even some picture of him, as well. He laughed when he saw Chippy, the monkey wearing the flowery green dress, but couldn't really remember much about the incident. He looked at another picture, and as he looked at it, he felt a tingling in the back of his mind.

He looked closely, and realized it was a picture taken a few years ago, when both of their families had gone to the park. Or at least he assumed it was the park; he could see some trees in the background. He was standing beside Kim, holding Rufus in one hand, and a pine cone in the other. Kim was smiling widely, and had her arm linked with his. He closed his eyes, and instead of concentrating, let his mind go blank. A foggy picture formed in his mind, but just as it started to clear, he heard Kim call down from the top of the stairs.

He opened his eyes and looked up at her. She smiled down, then moved down the stairs and stood beside him. She looked at the picture, then laughed. "Do you remember this one? We were on spring break, and you wanted to go exploring in the woods. We talked our parents into taking us to the park, and we went out and played for hours. You ended up finding that pine cone after you almost fell in the pond." She looked at him, hoping that it would jog his memory.

It didn't. Ron sighed and shook his head, and looked at Kim sadly. She frowned, but then smiled again. "Nothing? Well, I'm know you remember school. C'mon, Ron, we need to go or we'll be late." She hooked her arm in his, then went out the door, Ron right with her. She talked to Ron about all sorts of things, school, cheer squad, missions, anything she could think of that might mean something to Ron. He listened to everything, hanging on to her every word, but he couldn't make any connections between what he was hearing, and what he did with Kim.

Soon enough, they walked by Monique's house, and she stuck her head out the window, yelling that she'd be right down. Within a minute, she was right there, demanding to know the latest news. She seemed really disappointed that Ron didn't remember, but Kim spoke up. "Mom said it may take awhile before Ron remembers-it's only been one day. A couple more, and I'm sure he'll be back to normal."

Monique looked at Kim suspiciously. "And you're okay with this? You TLI yesterday."

The red head frowned, and Ron looked lost. Monique sighed. "Kim, yesterday you Totally Lost It."

Ron pulled Kim aside. "Kim, does anyone understand what she says, or do I just always miss it?"

His friend just smirked. "No, I think everyone has trouble with Monique-speak. It's like trying to learn French-the grammar's all different."

The blond frowned in thought. "Are you sure? I think it's more like Latin-you know, a dead language?"

Kim nodded. "That makes sense-no one speaks it, so you have to study to understand it."

Monique glared at them, angry and slightly embarrassed. "Are you two through?"

"Yes...no-I've got one more." Ron grinned and looked slyly at Kim. "You know, we could probably make an uncrackable code if we used Monique-speak. It'd be like a special code that only she could teach."

"Yeah," Monique said sourly, "I think I've got something I can teach you-" She reached for Ron, but Kim stepped between them.

A few minutes later, they arrived at school, and went to Monique's locker, then Ron's to get their things. Finally Ron and Monique followed Kim, and she went to her locker to get her things. She opened it up and saw Wade looking at her; this was a common occurrence for her, but appeared to be something Ron had forgotten.

"Ahhhhhhh! There's a little man in your locker!" Ron looked again, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh...it's just Wade."

Kim was giving Ron a look somewhere between pitying him, and wondering if he'd lost it. She turned back to Wade. "Any progress on recovering the memories?"

Wade shook his head. "You wouldn't believe how much info there is on memory loss-and most of it is useless. There is a lot on people who have lost memory due to head injuries-they all suggest another impact to the head may prompt memory recovery."

Monique looked at Wade, then at Ron, and raised her hand and slapped him in the back of the head. He yelped, then hid behind Kim. Monique looked at Wade and shrugged. "I don't think it worked."

Ron growled and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, thanks for checking. Not."

Kim ignored them both. "What else?"

Wade put his hands in the air. "Nothing else. Most of the research just suggests that it comes back naturally, after spending some time experiencing things. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any cases like Ron's-most people lose all their memories at once, or specific memories are suppressed. I couldn't find anything about a person not being able to remember someone else-it's unheard of. That means that there's nothing about what to do to make them remember. Really, your mom knows the most on the subject, and she's right-you'll just have to wait."

"Was there anything that said how long?"

Wade looked away. "That's where the bad news comes in. There are lots of cases with people that get their memories back in just a couple of days. Unfortunately, there are more cases of people who have gone longer, or never remember at all. It's going to be a guessing game, Kim. It could happen in the next five minutes, or it could take years."

"Years?" Kim went pale, and grabbed Ron's arm. She dug her fingers in, using that touch to focus her mind. Ron had been able to fall right back into their friendship, but sometimes he seemed off, and couldn't remember things he should. She couldn't imagine not being able to talk to Ron about something that had happened a few years ago; he wouldn't be able to answer. She felt even worse when she realized that he wouldn't know anything about any of the villains, because they were always together. She couldn't dare take him along if he didn't know what he was getting into.

Ron grimaced when he felt Kim's steely grip on his arm, but then looked at her face. She was pale, her eyes seemed unnaturally wide, and she was breathing shallowly. He moved beside her, then put an arm around her waist in case she fell. Monique moved to her other side, and grabbed her other arm. Ron looked at his friend, concerned. "Kim? Kim, are you okay?" She didn't answer, so he tried to reassure her. "C'mon, Kim, they'll come back soon, I know it. And-and even if they don't we'll make new memories, right? Everything will be okay."

Kim took a deep breath, then nodded. Color returned to her face, so Monique and Ron let go. Wade typed on his keyboard. "I'll keep looking, Kim, but this is all I've found. I'll...I'll just get back to work." The screen went dark, and Kim closed her locker.

She grabbed Ron's hand, then pulled him along to their first class. She waved at Monique, but didn't say anything. She really didn't know what to say-Ron, I'm sorry? I wish you hadn't lost your memory? I'm sure you're trying your best? Kim just walked silently, trying to process what she'd just heard. She looked at Ron again, and he smiled back at her. That made her feel a little better, so she gave him a weak smile back.

They made their way into their first class of the day. A few minutes later, the bell rang; at the same time, Mr Barkin entered the room, ready for this first lecture of the day. He paused as he noticed Ron. "Stoppable, I've got your homework for when you were gone." He slapped a large pile of papers on the student's desk.

Ron blinked, looking over at Kim, then back to the teacher. "I didn't do all this."

The teacher narrowed his eyes. "You didn't do this? Are you saying your cheated, and had someone else do your homework?" His gaze fell on the red headed teen sitting next to Ron.

Kim put on a forced smiled, placing her hands on the stack of papers, pulling them towards her best friend. "Don't listen to Ron, Mr Barkin, he's just stressed out from all that work, he doesn't remember doing it all." She pointed at the top of a page. "Look, it's got his name on it, so it must be his, right?"

Barkin glared at the two of them, finally shook his head, then moved back to the front of the class. He started his lecture like nothing was wrong, and the two teens had to take notes quickly to keep up. The class seemed to go on forever, but it finally ended. As Kim and Ron left the room, both teens shivered a bit at Mr Barkin's accusation. Once out of his earshot, Kim waved the pages in front of Ron's face. "Did you cheat? Look at this, all A's, this is all your homework for the time you were gone. I figured you'd be working on this for months."

Ron leafed through the papers, then shook his head. "I don't remember doing any of this, Kim. I thought I'd be working on it forever, too. Wait, what's this last bit here?"

Kim grabbed the paper from him, her eyes trailing down the page, to near the bottom, where a small note was hastily scribbled.

_To Ron, and likely Kim as well:_

_Yes, I did do his homework. Surprised? Why? Surely if I can build a doomsday device, I can wade my way through the schoolwork Barkin left. I'll admit, I didn't do it for you, Ron; it would be pretty fun to force you to do all that work, spending hours and days getting caught up. But, as much as I want to stick it to you, Ron, it's even more fun to give it to Barkin. All that work, finished not only on time, but perfectly? I probably gave him a heart attack. Hope you two are having as much fun as I have..._

_Booooyaha ha ha ha ha ha ha!_

_-Zorpox_

Kim shook her head after reading the message over. "I can't believe he did your homework."

Ron looked at the pages, then turned and waved one at her. "I can't believe they're all right. I did this?" He rubbed a hand across his chin, posing a bit. "I must be smarter than I thought."

His best friend rolled her eyes. "Come on, Potential Boy, we need to get to our next class." She gabbed the papers back from him, then stuffed them in his backpack. She motioned down the hall, and Ron followed. He walked with his head high, feeling particularly pleased over the work that had been done-even if, technically, he hadn't done it himself.

The next few classed passed in a blur, and soon Kim and Ron were finished with their last class of the day. As they left the room, Kim reached out to grab her best friend's arm, pulling the blond with her. After a few paces, they met up with Monique. The other girl joined them, walking next to Ron, figuring that even if she couldn't help Ron remember anything, she could be there for moral support. She looked over as Kim began speaking to Ron. "Do you remember cheer practice?"

"Cheer practice...cheer practice?" Ron looked around a bit, thinking, then shook his head. "Nope, nothing going on up here in the old noggin."

Kim rolled her eyes and shook her head. She started to open her mouth when Monique cut in, a little smirk on her face. "Nothing at all?" He nodded. "So you're saying your head is empty?"

He started to nod again, then paused, looking at his two friends with narrowed eyes. "Wait a minute."

Monique laughed, and shook her own head. "Sorry, that wasn't fair, but you did walk into that one." As they entered the gym, she slipped her arm in to hook Ron's elbow, pulling him towards the bleachers. "Why don't I take Mr Forgetful and see if I can get him caught up."

Kim nodded, then went into the center of the gym, to work with the rest of the cheer squad. They had just barely started to get everyone into place, when Tara looked over to the teens on the bleachers. "Why's Ron sitting? Isn't he going to get on his Mad Dog outfit?" The blond perked his head up at his name.

Bonnie growled. "You want to get foam face out here? Last time he spread so much of that stuff we almost couldn't do our cheers."

Kim's glare at Bonnie nearly caused her to flinch, but she stood her ground. "Lay off him, Bonnie." The red head turned to Tara. "Ron's forgot his memory."

"Like, everything?" Tara looked towards Ron, her eyes wide.

The other teen shook her head. "Not everything, just...well, me, and stuff we did together-"

Bonnie interrupted, her snark in full force. "No small loss there, too bad you didn't forget him, too, then maybe he could join the rest of the losers around here, instead of trying to hang with us."

As Kim and Bonnie faced off, the argument started to get heated. Monique came up off the bleachers quickly, joining the rest of the teens, trying to calm things down. Unnoticed, Tara looked between Kim and Ron, noting that there was no recognition there. Smiling a bit to herself, she slipped her way out of the growing storm in the center of the gym, walking over and sitting next to Ron. He smiled back at her, a bit unsure.

"Um, hi, Tara." The platinum blond felt a thrill go through her for a second, but didn't let it show on her face. She smiled back.

"You remember my name?"

"Y-Yeah, but I only sort of remember you. From what Mrs Dr P said, I can't remember anything that has to do with Kim; and since most of the time when we talked was at cheer practice, I don't really remember you too well." He dipped his eyes a bit, almost whispering to himself. "Actually, I just remember a couple of times when you laughed at me when I asked you for a date."

Tara had to bite her tongue to keep from shouting 'ASK ME NOW, ASK ME NOW!' As she slid across the seat a bit, closer to Ron, she couldn't help but grin gleefully. _If he doesn't remember Kim, then I've got no competition. Everyone sees the way he looks at her-but if he doesn't remember her, then maybe I've got a chance. _"Ron, I-"

She was interrupted by Kim, a stormy look on the other teen's face. "Ron, lets go. I'm calling practice over."

A voice from across the gym caused Kim to grind her teeth. "That's right, K, run. You know I'm right." The red head clenched her hands, then grabbed Ron, pulling him to his feet, then out of the gym. He gave a small parting wave to Tara before he was gone. The platinum blond teen laid back with a sigh, and a slightly maniacal smirk. _I'll make him mine._

X X X X

Bonnie snorted as she watched Kim and Ron leave the gym; it was so typical, Kim dragging him around everywhere and trying to bring him into the group. He had no right being with people so high on the food chain, he was just bringing everyone else down to his level. If only there was some way to get rid of him, convince him that he would be better off among his own kind. She blinked, thinking back to Kim's words. He didn't remember her, and that meant he didn't remember the good things.

Or the bad.

The brunette teen would never understand why the two of them stayed friends, especially since they both seemed to be pretty rotten to each other at times-especially Kim. She always treated him like a lapdog, her loyal puppy, more like a pet than a friend. Bonnie smirked, as she realized: maybe should could use his memory loss to her advantage; convince Ron that he was better off without Kim, better off alone instead of kissing up to Kim. And maybe then, he wouldn't hang around with the cheer squad and the top of the food chain.

As she was considering this, though, her vision was drawn to a grinning Tara, her eyes focused on Ron's back. Bonnie frowned to herself, realizing that Tara was still harboring the crush she held on the blond boy. The brunette teen would never understand her friend's fascination with the boy, but maybe she could use that to her advantage. In fact, maybe she could help Tara out as well. Instead of turning the loser away, maybe she could take him and change him. She knew Tara liked him a lot, and as a friend, Bonnie would be willing to help Tara out.

She grinned wickedly. Not to mention what a strike it would be to Kim's ego if Bonnie was able to raise the blond on the food chain, something not even the great Kim Possible had managed. Bonnie could show Ron how bad a friend Kim was, and how much better a friend Tara would be…And instead of destroying the blond loser, she might even cause Kim herself to crack.

It was perfect.

Z Z Z Z

Drakken looked over his most recent research data, mumbling to himself. It was interesting, perhaps the key thing he need to his current plan. Kim Possible's fatal flaw, the one things that would reduce her to putty, turn her into a weak teen that could be beaten; and it had been right in front of his face the entire time. _She was a teen_.

Not a highly trained officer, a skilled Global Justice agent, even a police woman, Kim was just a teenager. He had been so focused on dealing with her as a hero, fighting her head on, that he had never considered that there might be other ways to deal with his problem. He mused over the data he had, thinking; Kim was a teen, a high schooler, and had high school problems-the most important of which he had just learned.

She had no boyfriend.

This was it, this was the ticket, the key to his final success, his eventual win over her. He would not attack her at her strength, as a hero, but at her weakest, as a teenager, a girl for whom the approval of her peers was her biggest concern. Drakken knew that Kim, and her sidekick, the buffoon, worked together, well, and so were able to defeat him time and again. But if she was focused on a life problem, or finding a date, a boyfriend, her attention would be diverted elsewhere.

The mad scientist frowned as he leaned back, his thoughts focusing on the sidekick for a moment. He couldn't remember the buffoons name, but that was unimportant. What was important, was that he was Kim's friend. Her _best_ friend. The buffoon was the one that Kim always took along, the one that she did everything with, the one she always relied on. Drakken could practically hear the wheels turning in his head.

It was really odd, that as good of friends as they were, that they weren't actually dating. The two of them did everything together, were the best of friends-in fact, if you had seen them together, without knowing, you would assume they were boyfriend and girlfriend. For some reason, however, Kim wasn't dating him.

Drakken's thoughts drifted back to another night, and his eyes widened in realization. She didn't date him because he wasn't attractive, wasn't good looking. He was ordinary, her best friend, her lifelong pal-not anything like the guys that she met at her school. He remembered the night he had tried to make Kim vanish into nothingness, using her embarrassment against her-she had been dating another boy that night, while Ron was stuck doing other duties.

A sinister smile appeared on the villain's face. Oh, it was perfect. He had two pieces of the puzzle, and put together, it would spell Kim's doom. She didn't get along with her dates, because they weren't like her best friend...and she didn't date Ron because he was ordinary, just a friend.

What if he could combine them both?

What if he could take the attitude and thoughts of Ron, and combine them with someone Kim found attractive; he could have the perfect way to distract her. No.

He'd have the perfect way to destroy her.

Z Z Z Z

As Kim pulled Ron along behind her, she seethed inside. Bonnie was such a...Kim growled to herself, louder, running through every adjective she could think of to describe her rival. Finally settling on one she wouldn't repeat to her mother, she gave Ron another tug to speed him along, and he stumbled. The red head barely managed to grab his arm to keep him from landing face first on the concrete.

Kim looked down into her friend's face, noting him panting and out of breath, she sighed. "Sorry, Ron, I'm just a little mad a Bonnie right now." She slowed a bit, this time letting him set the pace. "You know how she is..." Kim faltered, and shook her head, whispering to herself. "Or maybe you don't..."

The teen shook her head to banish the thoughts, then smiled at her friend. "So, what were you and Tara talking about?"

Ron frowned, and shook his head. "I don't really know. She came over and we talked a bit." He recounted what had been said, before looking at Kim. "She's not...interested in me, or something, is she?"

Kim hesitated, and Ron noticed her pause. When she didn't say anything, he jumped to a conclusion. "No, of course she isn't interested in me, that's silly. It's not like I'm a good looking basketball player or something, she'd never go for me." He looked to Kim for confirmation.

The red head, however, was still tongue tied. Her first instinct was to tell him that Tara really did like him, had in fact liked him for a while. That instinct was quickly buried beneath a small voice warning her not to let Ron go. _Ron's yours, not Bonnie's, or Tara's, your best friend. They won't care about him as much as you do. _Kim shook her head slightly._ You've got to keep him safe, from anyone who'll hurt him. _Slowly the voice swayed her. Still doubtful, Kim opened her mouth to tell Ron to go for it, when one last thought made her pause. _He doesn't remember you, you need to keep him close so he doesn't get in trouble, so that he starts to remember things. _"Knowing Tara, she probably just wants to help you remember things." Pushing down her guilt at the little white lie, she continued. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you'll get a chance to talk to her later." _When I can be sure you two aren't alone._

He nodded back. "Yeah, she does seem sort of nice, from what I remember." He shook his head, looking around. "So, what do you have planned for tonight, Kim?"

The beeping of the Kimmunicator interrupted her before she could speak. She reached her hand down into her pocket, pulling the device out, giving an apologetic smile to Ron at the interruption. "What's the sitch, Wade?" She hoped it was something about Ron's condition.

It wasn't. "The Seniors have got something going on, I think you need to check it out. It's been a few days since your last visit, and I'm getting some funny readings; I think that you need to pay them a visit." The red head nodded, before turning to look to her blond friend.

Kim though back to Ron's earlier question about what they were going to do. "Up for a trip to Europe?"


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N** First off, I left off a bit of the last chapter when I first posted, and didn't catch the error until later; I went ahead and added the section to the end of the last chapter where it belongs, so if you're reading this just after Kim mentions a trip to Europe, you're right on track. If not, go back and check the end of the last chapter to make sure you didn't miss anything._

_Second, thanks to Eddy13 for beta checking._

* * *

Kim looked across the airplane at her best friend, biting her lip. She still wasn't totally sure about bringing Ron with her. Despite her original thought to bring him along, she was having her doubts. He wouldn't remember anything about fighting the villains, or the Seniors, so bringing him along could be dangerous. At the same time, when she'd talked about leaving him, he'd objected, saying that he needed to go along as backup. The outburst has surprised both of them, but she'd relented.

"So..." Ron shrugged a bit. "What do I normally do on our missions?"

She waved her hand. "Um, you're usually the distraction, you know, you keep the villains busy while I take care of whatever is going on. Stop the doomsday weapon, recover the stolen invention, save the world. It's what we do."

Her friend blinked. "In other words, I'm just winging it, right?"

She shook her head back. "No, there's usually a plan...it's just, well..." Now her eyes widened a bit. "I guess we are just winging it."

Ron laid back, his head in his hands. "In that case, wake me when we get there. I'd hate to over think this."

The red head watched him close his eyes. She sighed, then reached over to poke him. He sat up with a yelp of surprise. "Hey, Kim, what're you doing?"

"Don't get too comfortable, let me tell you about the Seniors, so you know what to expect."

Ron sat up, putting his head in his hands as he listened to her explain. She spent most of the plane ride explaining about the two Seniors, their habits, and what to expect when they got the island. He listened to everything, and soon enough they were over the drop point. As they approached the side of the aircraft, Kim quickly reached over to help Ron get his parachute situated. She had decided that since the Seniors already knew they were coming, they'd forgo her free fall dive from the previous week. That, and Wade had already solved that unique problem.

Kim looked down at Wade's face on the Kimmunicator as he began speaking. "Finally managed to hack into the Seniors' computer systems, Kim, and I've gotten their radar set up in a continuous loop; you should be able to parachute in like normal, and they won't know a thing."

"Thanks, Wade." She looked over at Ron, before moving to the side of the plane and opening the door. "I don't think Mr Forgetful would enjoy what it took to get in last time."

As Ron looked out the side of the plane, he gulped. "That's a long way down. Are you sure this is safe?"

Kim smirked, and yelled back, "Safe? No. Fun? Yes!" She gave him a shove, launching herself out after him in a long swan dive.

Z Z Z Z

Shego made her way into the main lab, feeling a certain sense of deja vu; the last time she had come into one of Drakken's labs like this, she had been planning to scare Drakken, and prove her worth to him. Instead, she had come face to face with Zorpox, and nearly come unglued. Just the thought of the caped villain made her blood boil, and not just because of what happen. She was embarrassed at the way she had been led around like some first year henchwoman, and after all that he had done, she was feeling more than a little off her game. Had the other villain been right? She couldn't shake the feeling that the blond had been playing with her head just for the sheer, evil joy of it.

Shaking her head, she finally approached Drakken's chair, frowning, hesitating, before finally grabbing it and giving it a small turn. It spun easily, but slowly, a small squeaking following the spin. She winced, and gave a small shiver, before grimacing. Finally the chair stopped its spin, facing her, and she blinked, realizing it was empty.

"Problem, Shego?" Drakken's voice came from just over her shoulder.

She shrieked, spinning, her claws swiping towards his face, missing his head by inches. She had dropped into a low fighting stance, resting on the balls of her feet, glaring at him, before finally realizing what had happened. She gave another small grimace, embarrassed again. That embarrassment turned to anger, though, as she realized that Drakken hadn't jumped in surprise. In fact, he seemed to have missed her minor freak out, and her subsequent embarrassment. Finally he turned and focused on her. "Shego, next part of the plan."

Growling low to herself, she nodded, but realized that he hadn't seen that, either. Finally with an exasperated sigh, she spoke, "Alright, Dr D, what's the next part of this big plan? Need me to steal something?"

He smiled, "Not something, someone..."

Z Z Z Z

Kim spread her arms a bit as she fell through the air, quickly angling next to Ron. He was flapping his arms rapidly, but as she spun around into view, he panted, then matched her motions, spreading his own body and slowing his descent. Kim smiled, waiting a few more second, then reached up to get her fingers on her rip cord, watching Ron do the same. She pulled, feeling her parachute unfurl, then catching the air, pulling her. Ron grabbed and yanked his a second later, and was soon falling just a few feet below here. They both angled down to the Seniors islands; Ron may not have remembered how to skydive, but he'd easily been able to figure out what was going on by watching Kim. As the red head felt her feet touch the ground, she smiled to herself-even if Ron didn't remember anything, he seemed to be picking things up pretty quickly-she figured she didn't need to worry about him.

Well, not too much. He had, typically, managed to get himself tied up upon landing. She walked over to him and smirked down; he had the chords of the parachute wrapped around him completely, his arms tied to his side, legs roped together, he looked like a tied up inch worm. He glared up at Kim, and wiggled, "And what's so fun about this?"

She giggled, bending down to help him get untied. "Well, I think it's funny."

After a few minutes trying to get him untied, she finally gave up, pulling out her laser lipstick and cutting the ropes. She picked the parachute up and grimaced-Wade would not be pleased. Then again, she wasn't sure she could remember a time that Ron had ever returned a parachute in mint condition. With a sigh, she helped him stuff it in his backpack, and soon the two were ready for their infiltration.

Kim made her way over to the door, pressing the button to open it, watching carefully in case one of the two villains were nearby, or if they had updated any of their security. To her relief, there were no alarms, and no annoying Junior. She motioned Ron forward.

Her friend quickly darted in, instantly plastering himself against one of the walls, hands spread, as if he was sneaking and hiding in the shadows. She sighed and walked past him, staying alert, and she heard him quickly match pace behind her.

The two teens made their way through the Seniors' lair, exploring, checking different areas. The truth was, Wade wasn't really sure what the two villains were up to; there had been threatening videos sent to a few European countries, but Senior hadn't said how he was threatening them. Wade had also seen a number of his sensors light up as the Seniors had turned on some device that used a lot of power; but he had no idea what it was.

Kim and Ron went room by room, seeing nothing of any superweapon, or the Seniors. Kim was suspicious now, but knew that there really wasn't anything she could do about it if they were walking into a trap. Finally the two teens made their way into the Seniors' main room. They moved across the upper catwalk quietly, before walking over to the computer at the top; Kim looked around, frowning, remembering what happened last time, she opened her mouth to warn Ron, but he was already pushing buttons.

Hearing a familiar 'snap' and 'whishing' sound, Kim started to move out of the way, but wasn't quite quick enough. Instead a pair of mechanical arms grabbed her wrists and ankles, pulling against the wall beside the computer. She glared at her best friend, fighting off a sense of Deja Vu at being stuck to the wall, again. "Nice going, Ron."

He winced. "Sorry, Kim. Thought we could use this computer. Let me see if I can get you loose."

"That will not be necessary, Mr Stoppable." The blond whirled around, looking towards the voice, noting Senior and Junior standing below, looking up at the two teens. The elder adult spoke again, "Now, if you would be so kind as to come down here, we can get to my plan."

Ron looked at Kim, unsure. She growled back, but motioned with her head, and he took a few steps forward to the edge of the catwalk, and the stairs. At the same time, he cupped his hand a bit by his side, poking his pocket lightly. Rufus twitched, before snaking his way out of the pocket, using the arm as cover, sliding down Ron's pants leg, and then behind him, towards Kim. "What's your plan, uh, Mr Senior, sir?" Kim rolled her eyes.

To the red head's surprise, Senior explained. "Over the last few weeks, my son has been learning the fine art of fencing; sadly, I am far beyond his skills, and needed someone less familiar to be his partner."

Kim blinked, and Ron turned around giving her a confused look. She shook her head back as she looked at the villain, before asking, "Wait, hold the phone. This whole plot was so that you could get me here to fence with Junior?"

Senior shook his head. "Of course not, Ms Possible, that would be absurd." Kim sighed, relieved, until he continued. "You are a far better fencer than my son, I'm sure. No, I set this trap in order to have Mr Stoppable fence with my son."

Now it was Ron's turn to blink. "What? I don't know the first thing about fencing. And isn't this a little immoral or something? I mean, couldn't you have just called?"

The elder villain motioned with his hand. "Perhaps I could have called, but I believe Ms Possible would have been hesitant to come like this, believing it to be a trap, or else refusing to come on the grounds that I was a villain. Regardless, this was a more villainous way to catch you." He grinned evilly, "Now I can have you fight my son for your freedom, making this a villainous endeavor, as well. Now, if you would please come down here, Mr Stoppable, we can begin."

The teen hesitated at the top, then slowly moved down the steps, giving Rufus as much time as he could, hoping that the little mole rat would be able to free Kim so that they could escape together. Rufus has already made his way across the room, to jump up and perch on the computer, looking at the huge array of buttons. He frowned for a second, taking his time, looking things over, trying to decide what buttons to push. Meanwhile, Ron had made his way to the ground floor, noting a table nearby holding almost two dozen different swords. Junior had walked away as soon as the trap had been sprung, and now he was back with a set of fencing gear. He already had his equipment on, and tossed the other set to Ron to wear.

The blond looked at the stuff, frowning, having no idea how to put any of it on. Senior gave a small sigh, then walked over, helping the teen put the stuff on. Finally fitting the face mask in place, he looked over both of the fencers, ensuring everything was safe, and stepped back. He watched his son go over to the table, grabbing two swords, holding one in his hand, then tossing the other to Ron. The teen yelped, stepping back, letting the sword hit the ground; he gave a sheepish grin, before bending down to pick it up.

Ron looked down at the sword in his hands, frowning, before looking up at Kim, as if she had the answers. She gave him a small shrug back, grimacing. This really wasn't the way she wanted to introduce missions to Ron. The blond teen turned back towards Junior, as the villain in training raised his rapier and set his feet in a traditional fencing stance. Ron attempted to mimic it, but staggered, before putting the blade end of the sword down, against the ground, and leaning on it.

"Are you really sure you want to do this?" He finally raised the blade back up, cutting through the air a couple of times with wide, sloppy swings, "What if I'm some sort of sword fighting expert?"

Junior froze, suddenly, looking over at his father. "Papi, he makes a good point. How am I to learn if he is so much better than me?"

The elderly man gave a small sigh, "Junior, he is no expert, I can assure you. That is why he is your fencing partner, and not Ms Possible here." He motioned with his hand. "Mr Stoppable should be sufficient to give you some experience."

Ron cocked his head. "And if I won't fight?"

Senior gave a malicious grin, reminding the blond that despite his formal attitude, he _was_ a villain. "Then I'm afraid I'll have to lock you back up with Ms Possible until you are ready to help me." He waited a beat, then motion with his hand. Ron sighed, before turning back to Junior, gripping the sword with both hands, in a clumsy grip.

His foe frowned again. "That is not the way you are supposed to hold your sword." He looked up, whining. "Father, how am I supposed to learn fencing if he will not do it properly?"

Senior frowned a bit, finally losing his patience, "Attack, Junior, and learn."

Junior started at his father's words, before bringing his sword back up, facing Ron. The blond teen looked back at him, his own weapon held high, and they both squared off for a moment. Finally, Junior started with a slow, hesitant thrust. Ron gave a surprised yelp, hopping backwards, slamming his sword down, catching his foe's weapon and driving it to the ground. Junior himself hopped back in surprise, as well.

He opened his mouth, slowly, to talk to his father again, but wisely decided to keep quiet. He raised the sword again, attacking a bit faster this time, thrusting, then slashing towards his foe. Ron instinctively twisted his sword to the side, deflecting the first blow, before raising his weapon to catch Junior's attack, defending himself. He gave his own clumsy strike, and Junior yelped, blocking the sword to the side with his own odd block. Senior frowned, but didn't say anything.

While the slow and relatively boring sword fight was going on, Kim was still struggling against her bonds, pulling and tugging. The arms moved a little bit, to the side some, but nothing that gave her any chance at freedom. She sighed, growled, and blew some hair out of her face, focusing back on the sword fight. She was a bit surprised that Ron hadn't dropped his sword yet.

The blond teen panted as he raised his sword again, blocking another of Junior's blows, this attack deflecting off the side. He was getting a bit tired; the sword was a bit heavier than it looked, and it hurt his hands every time the two pieces of metal hit. He stepped back to take a deep breath, looking over Junior's shoulder, as sudden inspiration struck. "Is that the O-Boyz?"

Ron watched as Junior turned his head, and quickly used the opportunity he had been giving, stepping forward and raising the sword over his head ready to bring it down in a powerful strike. Junior, realizing he was being distracted, turned back around, giving a fearful, girlish yelp as he saw Ron's position, he turned his head, waving the sword frantically, thrusting it at his foe. The blond, not expecting the reaction, gave his own yelp, closing his eyes, the sword suddenly seeming to move in his hand.

The blond's sword twisting to the side, coming in a circling arc, catching Junior's blade on the side, spinning it up and out of his hand. It flew through the air, over Senior's head, and the elderly man lifted his head, watching it fly over, before he frowned at his son. "Junior!"

"Papi! He cheated!"

As Senior moved down the catwalks, over to the table with the swords, Kim gave a small gulp. The sword had arced through the air, spinning, seeming on a direct path for her. She closed her eyes, briefly, before hearing a metallic thunk above and just to the side of her head. She opened her eyes back up, tilting her face, noting the blade just a few inches from her face. She gave a smile, though, as she noticed the blade was imbedded in one of the arms holding her. She pulled and felt a little give...

Senior finally made his way over to table with the rapiers and other fencing equipment, and picked one of the swords up before speaking to Junior. "You are a villain, Junior, you should cheat as well. Do you not understand, my son? You are supposed to do whatever it takes to win, just as Mr Stoppable did here." He turned a bit, "Mr Stoppable, if you would kindly try again."

A voice from above startled the three men. "Afraid not, Senior"

The elder adult gave a sigh, and an angry glare at his son. "Do you see, Junior, why it was so important that Ms Possible does not escape?" He motioned suddenly, placing his cane on the table, pulling a sword off instead, as he turned towards Kim. "Watch, and learn now, my son." He took three quick steps forward, swinging his sword in an elegant art, knocking the weapon out of Ron's hand, the villain's blade leveled at the teen's throat. "Now, my teenage foe, if you would come down so we can fence for my son."

Kim sighed, rolling her eyes as she walked down the stairs to the villain. Senior moved his sword away, instead raising it up to face the red head, his sword held in a formal guard. Kim, on the other hand, was holding her weapon a bit more casually, still somewhat unsure how good the villain was. He didn't leave her waiting long, quickly thrusting forward; she responded easily, spinning her sword around and deflecting his attack. He twisted his arm high, bringing an attack down and to the side, slashing at her.

The red head blocked it again, quickly shifting as he attacked a second and third time; she whipped her weapon around, a high thrust that the villain blocked, two quick slashes deflected as well. The next attack caught Kim by surprise, the rapid strike making her take a hesitant step back, as Senior pressed his attack. The attack caught her sword from underneath flipping it upwards out of her hands to clatter behind her. She responded with a double backflip, her hand settling on the hilt as she flipped back and landed on her feet, again in a fighting stance.

Ron just watched in awe from the side, amazed at both Kim's skills, and Senior's. Junior stood next to the teen, just as amazed. He looked at the blond and blinked. "I think I need more practice."

The teen shrugged, "I think we both do." He watched for a few more seconds, rubbing his hand, before looking over at the villain, "I don't suppose you have something to drink?"

Junior nodded, turning and walking over to another table. "We have fizzy beverages, as well as these little juice boxes with umbrellas."

Ron hopped up and down a bit, and felt someone climb up his leg, finding Rufus standing on his shoulder. "Oh, oh, I want one!" Both spoke together. Junior grabbed the drinks for them, and the three went and sat over on chairs to watch as Kim and Senior continued their fencing.

Kim deflected another thrust that came in low, spinning her weapon around in a high strike that Senior was easily able to block. The red head frowned to herself, noting that the villain was matching her move for move; in fact, she was fairly sure that he was better than her-at least at traditional sword play. She gave a wicked grin as she stepped back, tossing the sword up and catching it in a reverse grip, the blade running along her arm.

Senior frowned, suddenly concerned, as he raised his sword in a guard. He attacked again, with a slash, but his teenage foe moved in, spinning, as she blocked the sword with her own weapon, shoving his out of the way. She had easily slipped inside his defenses, and he threw a quick punch at her; she deflected it to the side, then hooked his foot, sweeping it out, grabbing his wrist and torquing the sword from his grip. The villain hit the ground hard, as Kim stepped back, both swords in her hands now.

The elder villain stood to his feet, giving a soft clapping, "Ah, very well done, Ms Possible. I had always been told that a reverse grip was a poor form for sword fighting; perhaps there is more for me to learn, as well. Junior!" His son stood, walking over, still sipping on his juice box. "We shall have to study more, and this time, we will both be learning together."

"Oh, Papi, you mean it?" Excited, Junior stood next to his father, giving a small squeal as the elder adult nodded.

Senior looked at Kim, and Ron who had come up beside her. "Thank you, Ms Possible and Mr Stoppable, you are free to go now."

Kim finally lowered her arms, the twin blades touching the ground lightly. Ron cocked his head to the side, "That's it? Don't you all have to go to jail or something?"

The villain looked at them and shrugged, "I would rather not, Mr Stoppable, but it is no less than I deserve for luring you here with my threats. If you wish to take us in, I will not object. However..." He seemed to consider for a second, and smiled, "If I could convince you to let us go, Ms Possible, I will promise you that I won't launch any more villainous plots for the next month or two, while my son and I practice our fencing skills."

The red head opened her mouth to reply and tell him she couldn't be bought off, but as she thought about it, she realized that even when she had taken them to prison, most of the time they had escaped within a few days. They hadn't really hurt anyone this time, had only been trying to get her-well, Ron-here so that Junior could practice his fencing. She was inclined to let things slide this time, if only because she knew that she could trust their word, that they wouldn't try anything. She finally sighed, and nodded, "On one condition, Senior, when you do decide to start working on your next villainous plot, you call Wade and tell him you're back on the clock."

Now it was Senior's turn to consider and he finally nodded back "Very well, Ms Possible, the terms are fair, I agree. Now, unless there is anything else, my son and I should get busy. I assume you have transportation?"

"Yes." Kim hesitated for a second more, before grabbing Ron's hand and leaving.

Z Z Z Z

Drakken sat back, contemplating things. He had sent Shego out with a very specific plan in mind; she had been unsure what he was doing, and why he would want a specific person, instead of a doomsday weapon or something similar, but with a little convincing, she had agreed. Really, though, it didn't matter to him whether she understood why she was doing things, only that she complied, so that he could get the end results her wanted. Actually, he intended to keep everything as secretive as possible-but he might let her in on the plan, when he was sure that nothing could stand in his way.

Finally shrugging to himself, he turned, and focused back on the lab computer in front of him. While Shego was busy with her task, he would be busy with his, as well. He looked over his computer screen, frowning to himself.

He hadn't told Shego, or even Zorpox himself, but that device that had been worn on the teen's head had done a little more than prevent him from acting up. The device was actually a way to scan and analyze Zorpox's brain wave patterns, and had, in effect, recorded them. That gave Drakken a very good analysis of the caped villain's brain wave patterns-and Ron's patterns, as well. He had all sort of personality and psychological assessments of Ron, and knew that it would be perfect for what he had planned.

Kim Possible was a teen without a boyfriend, without even a crush, and with the teasing and taunts of her classmates, and her Junior Prom coming up, she would be more mindful of it than ever. Smirking, Drakken tapped the screen. Ron was, in so many ways, the perfect match for Kim, and he would use that to his advantage. He looked back at the screen again, then started downloading the software into a special, blank synthodrone. That was only half the plan, however.

When Shego returned, he would have all he needed to destroy Kim Possible.

Z Z Z Z

After settling in on the plane Ron looked over at Kim, with a slight frown, "Is that normally how things go with the villains?"

The red head sighed, "No, but it's not the weirdest thing that's ever happened."

Her friend shivered, "I'm kinda hesitant to ask what the weirdest thing was."

"Let me think." Kim ran through her adventures in her mind, remembering the Seniors' mutated octopus, Drakken's 'blush her out of existence' plot, and switching bodies with Ron. She shivered back, "Don't ask."

He didn't.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N** Thanks to Eddy13 for beta checking._

_A little shorter chapter this time, but a couple of important things going on here._

_Also, final warning-for those who haven't seen So the Drama, there's a key reveal here that'll spoil the surprise of the movie, so check it out first if you haven't yet._

* * *

Kim sat back in her seat, looking over at Ron. They were on their way back from Senior's lair, and were actually most of the way back to Middleton. They had done some more discussion of villains, and the activities they performed on missions, and Ron had assured her that he'd be able to take care of himself, and still help her, even without his memories. Kim was dubious, but shrugged, and said that she was okay with him coming along, as long as she called the shots, like always-and she'd do her best to make sure he didn't do anything dangerous.

As they were making their way back, the pilot of the jet had called Kim forward, into the cockpit, before pulling up a small screen for the teen. They had taken a GJ jet back to Middleton, and soon Kim was facing the Global Justice Director. Betty smiled at the teen. "Kim, if you don't mind, do you think we could talk about your last mission tonight? I know you've been busy, and it's been a couple of days, so I was hoping we could review things, so I can get this other villain in the GJ database for future reference."

Kim hesitated, tongue tied, a bit unsure. She had been caught off guard, and still hadn't really given any thought to how she was going to tell the director, explain everything to her. She blinked again, and opened her mouth to ask for a bit more time, but Ron came up behind her smiling, "Hello Ms Director Lady." He looked at Kim, then the screen, "I'm sure she's be happy to talk to you about whatever it is, she's all about helping people with stuff, right Kim?"

Feeling suddenly embarrassed, as well as still flustered, she gave a slow nod, not saying anything. Betty smiled back, "Wonderful, we'll see you in a few minutes, Kim." She nodded and cut the channel, leaving Kim to frown a bit to herself, as she tried to think about how she would cover everything that happened. There were a lot of pieces to the puzzle, and she was sure the director would want to know everything. She went back to sit down, Ron joining her seconds later.

She looked at him, frowning again, before shrugging, "Ron, you can go home, and I'll explain things to the Director, you probably don't remember much anyway, and besides, I know you still have a bit of homework to get done." To her relief, he nodded back at her, and she directed the pilot to swing by Ron's house, first, to drop him off, before heading to GJ HQ. As she sat back, she hoped that would give her enough time to sort through things and figure out what she was going to say.

Z Z Z Z

Shego frowned to herself again, looking around furtively, trying to ensure that there was no one around to see her. Finally confident, she crept forward slowly, inching her way forward on the branch she was standing on. Currently, she was crouched inside the upper branches of a tree, looking into an upstairs room in a normal, suburban house in Middleton. She smiled softly to herself, admitting that this was actually pretty fun.

Drakken had sent her off with only a single goal in mind; capture a certain blond boy for a few experiments. She had two tasks to take care of; she had to find out the location of his house, and figure out how to get in to his room to capture him. The bigger challenge for her had been figuring out where he lived, but she had overcome that problem pretty easily. Now she was just waiting for him to show up so she could grab him.

Shego had already slipped into his room earlier, popping his window open just slightly, barely wide enough that she could shoot a small dart inside his room, and hopefully incapacitate him. She was still a bit unsure why Drakken wanted the kid, but she didn't feel like questioning him; and really, it didn't matter for her why, she was getting paid, and if this was just some other crazy part of his next scheme, well, it paid the bills. Besides, she really _was_ enjoying herself in a way she hadn't in a long time. Infiltrating a huge mega-company and dealing with their security was always fun, but sometimes she enjoyed a small time kidnapping just as much.

It also gave her a bit of time to think, and finally put things in perspective. Zorpox had been right about a lot of things, but wrong about others. What mattered, though, was what she did now, be it supporting Drakken, working with him, or just being her normal, snippy self. Both were actually sort of fun, although she enjoyed the snarkiness to Drakken a lot more. At the same time, though, she figured that his confidence might have been a bit shaken after the events of the last few weeks, and even the last few plans, always foiled by Kim, often before they even got off the ground. She decided to watch Drakken closely, and see how he acted. She settled back into the tree to wait.

It was nearly two hours later that her target finally made his way into his room, and she waited a few seconds, letting him move around the room, close his door, and finally get in a perfect position for her. She lifted a tube to her lips and give a quick blow, watching her dart traveling perfectly from her vantage point, through the slit window, and hit the boy in the side of the neck. He gave a muffled squeak, took a shaky step, then fell down to his knees, clawing forward as his eyes glazed over.

The green villainous grinned, standing on her branch and running along it, quickly reaching the end and launching herself forward in a long leap, her hands grasping the sides of the window frame, her feet hitting the sill itself, she reached down with one hand and grabbed the window, lifting it, then making her way inside. She dropped to the floor silently, and crossed the room quickly, bending forward and rolling her target over. The blond barely moved, giving a small nonsensical mumble, and Shego studied his face for a second. She smirked, she still thought he was sorta cute.

With a shrug, she grabbed him, lifting him over a shoulder as she carried him to the window, then quickly made her way outside, and was gone.

Z Z Z Z

Kim walked into GJ's HQ, spotting the director standing in the center, Will Du right beside her. The teen grimaced, but gathered her courage, and patience, and walked towards them. She quickly called out a greeting as they spotted her. "Hello, Director, Du."

Betty smiled, "Welcome back to Global Justice, Kim, it's always a pleasure." She waited a beat, before giving a small frown, looking over to Du. She glared a bit at the agent, and she could have sworn he was sulking as he gave Kim a greeting as well.

"Welcome, Ms Possible." Du didn't say anything else after that, so after a pause, the director started speaking again. She quickly outlined to Kim most of what they had learned about the events of the last few days, Drakken's involvement, a surprising, new villain that had managed to take down Du, and their very recent knowledge that Kim had managed to take him down.

Finally finishing, the director looked at Kim, "Now, if you wouldn't mind filling in the blanks, so we know who this villain is, and how dangerous he is."

Kim smirked slightly, "And how he was able to take down your number one agent? Not to mention the team he put together to try and trap him."

Du gave a growl, before narrowing his eyes. "This villain was obviously a highly skilled combatant with years of experience, and knowledge in guerrilla tactics." Kim almost chuckled at his description, but her humor disappeared at his next words, "Whoever he is, he needs to be locked up in GJ's most secure prison cell, and left to rot."

The red headed teen glared back now. "That 'highly skilled villain' is no longer a threat, Du, and won't be ever again."

"And how do you know that for sure?" Betty inquired, finally interjecting into their argument. "Many villains, once they have a taste of the destruction and evil they cause, can never come back. I'm afraid I have to agree with Du on this one, Ms Possible, I'd like to have this villain's name, at least so we can keep an eye on him, in case he reverts back to his villainous ways."

Will frowned now. "I must protest, Dr Director, whoever this man is, he must be put in a cell and watched, he's too dangerous, even if he has given up his villainous life. The risks are too great that he might revert." He looked back at Kim. "His name, Ms Possible, and I will go apprehend him now."

Kim blinked, suddenly, at the turn of the conversation. Ron, dangerous? Sure, he'd been a villain for a little bit-twice, really, but he hadn't hurt anyone, and she'd do everything she could to ensure that he was never even near an attitudinator again. She shook her head, "No, I won't."

Du rocked back, surprised. "I'm ordering you to tell me."

Finally, Kim laughed. "Ordering me? I don't work for GJ, Will, as you've reminded me so often, I'm just an amateur. I will not tell this villain's name. He isn't a threat."

Dr Director frowned to herself, "And if he does return to villainy?"

"Then I'll be there to stop him."

Betty looked a bit unhappy at that, but nodded, "Very well, I understand, Kim, and while I don't agree, I'll respect your decision." Will opened to his mouth to protest, but the director cut him off. "This decision is final, Agent Du. You're dismissed." The top agent closed his mouth quickly, gave Kim a final, barely concealed glare, and left. The red head started to stand, but Betty spoke softly, "You're protecting someone, aren't you?"

Kim paused, giving a deer in the headlights look, before nodding slowly. Betty smiled, "I can understand loyalty to friend and family, Kim, so as I've said, while I disagree with this from the perspective of a Director, from the point of view of a friend, I can understand. If you do need help because this villain has returned, call on GJ, and we can help."

The teen nodded slowly, before shaking her head, "And then imprison him?"

"If that's what's required."

Z Z Z Z

Drakken smiled broadly as he saw Shego's jet coming in, lowering with a small roar as it landed in VTOL mode. There was a quick hiss as she shut the engines off, then her canopy slid back, letting the mad doctor get a look at Shego. She pulled her helmet off, setting it almost reverently by her seat as she stood, then turned to yell down at Drakken. "Yo, Dr D, where do you want the kid?"

He shrugged, "Bring him along, down to the lab, and I'll get things situated." He started to turn, but she stopped him.

"Hold up, Drakken, I've got to get him down, first." She turned, looking in the seat behind her, grabbing the kid by his collar and yanking him forward, bending him over the side of the cockpit, head and chest hanging out of the plane. "Catch him." Without a word more, she gave him a shove out.

Drakken gave a small squeal as he watched the teen come tumbling out of the aircraft, directly over head. He opened his arms widely and gulped, closing his eyes, as the boy hit him and knocked him down. The mad scientists grumbled, crawling out from under the blond, looking at his limp form. Second later, Shego dropped beside Drakken, snickering, "Are you going to carry him for me, Dr D? Such a gentlemanly gesture, I always thought you were just a big ole geek." She walked off towards the lab, and Drakken growled louder, grabbing the boy by an arm, and dragging him off after the villainess.

Z Z Z Z

A GJ hoverjet took Kim home after the debriefing. She was able to give the Director a little information about some of the events that had transpired, but she left out any mention of Ron, and anything she could think of that might tip them off that Ron was involved. Her head had spun a little at the way the conversation had gone, how a simple discussion over what had happened had led to Kim withholding information from GJ to protect Ron.

As she got off the jet and entered her house, she gave a quick consideration to calling Ron and talking to him about what had been discussed. She could call him and talk to him, see what he thought, maybe make sure that he didn't tell GJ anything that might tip them off to what was going on. Or he might turn himself in, instead. Kim winced, and decided not to tell him.

The teen walked up to her room, still in thought. She had never really considered that while under Zorpox's influence, Ron really _was_ a villain, and as such might be a target of GJ. Considering that he had the attitudinator used on him, and this hadn't been his fault, and Kim felt even worse. She had to do whatever she could to ensure that GJ never learned who the villain was that attacked Du.

Or else she might lose her best friend.

Z Z Z Z

After a relatively short trip down the hall, Drakken and Shego finally reached the lab, Shego quickly sitting down in a chair, leaning back and putting her feet up. About fifteen second later, Drakken came through, huffing and puffing, back to her, as he scrambled his feet, tugging his blond subject through the door. He panted, glaring at Shego again, but she was just filing her nails, as she gave him a small, almost coy smirk, in a surprisingly good mood. With a snort, Drakken shook his head, instead of asking for help, he grabbed the blond by an arm, and hefted him upwards, into a reclined lab chair. He spun the teen back around, facing upwards and in exactly the position he wanted. Fortunately, Shego's dart would keep the teen out for quite a while longer, despite all the manhandling he was getting.

Once situated, Drakken stepped back from the blond, then walked over to a nearby console, studying it a bit, before turning it on, and starting to hit a few buttons. He tapped some of the dials in front of him, frowning again, before looking over the console, at the unconscious boy. "Shego, come over here and help me."

She rolled her eyes, but surprisingly stood, walking over next to him. "What're you doing, Doc? This is weird, even for you. Superweapons, machines, lasers are more your thing." She frowned, "You're not going to clone him, are you?"

"Of course not, Shego, why would I clone him, when I could make a synthodrone of him?" The mad doctor turned back to his subject.

Shego looked at the blond, at Drakken, then back at the teen, before barking a laugh, "Synthodrone? Him? That's great, Dr D, you really had me going there for a second. No, seriously, what're you doing?"

He looked back her, face serious, "I told you, synthodrone." He just shook his head and went back to adjusting things, before finally turning the system on.

The green villainess frowned, confused, and more than a little unsettled. Had Dr D finally snapped? Totally lost his mind, and gotten himself fixated on something completely bizarre? She looked back at the boy sitting in the chair, shaking her head. Or maybe he had reached a point that he was grasping for straws, trying any and everything he could to get some plan to work, some scheme to try against Kim Possible. After what Zorpox had done, anything Drakken did would seem plain by comparison.

Shego wasn't one to stroke someone's ego, she told it as it was, and even liked to mock when she heard some of Drakken's plans. Truth was, though, it wasn't just to make the mad doctor embarrassed, wasn't just to cut him off, but to try and make him better, as a villain, make him harder, less of the softy she saw all the time. She hoped the constant berating and her mean spiritedness would rub off on him more. But maybe she'd been pushing things a bit too far. Maybe...she should actually be a bit supportive. She couldn't help but remember all the times Drakken had asked if she really thought he was evil-and each time, she had belittled and mocked him.

She winced softly to herself. And each time he had given her a whipped puppy look.

But she could always try to support him a little, maybe try and help him believe in himself, instead of tearing him down as she always did. She frowned, not really liking the idea, but figuring that it might be worth a shot, in a plan or two. She could see, in some of his actions, a lack of confidence, almost a lack of belief in himself. As she turned back to Drakken, watching him finish his mumblings, setting his device and finishing with it, she decided that she would support Drakken in this particular plot, and see where it got them.

As she looked at the blond on the table, thinking back to the last time she'd seen him, on a date with Kim Possible, she couldn't help but remember the other blond that was always at her side, supporting her. Maybe Kim didn't always succeed because she was better, but because she had someone helping her. Maybe if Shego helped Drakken, really helped him, they'd have a chance at success.

X X X X

Drakken looked at Shego, having finished with his blond test subject. He looked down at his console once more, then back to Shego, and gave a small wave of his hand, "I'm done with him now, Shego, you can take him back." He was surprised when she nodded, quickly scooping him up, and was gone without a word, without even a snippy comment about how he'd make her do all this work for only twenty minutes of experimentation.

He finally shrugged to himself, thinking that maybe she was finally serious about this villain thing, that maybe his scheme had finally gotten her attention, to prove to her that this one was a keeper, that this plan would succeed, and he would take over the world. Regardless, he was glad to have Shego on board, completely, and knew that it could make a difference in his plans against Kim Possible. But, as much and as important as that was, the blond boy he had scanned was even more important.

Looking over the scans, he smiled widely. Body size, definition, weight, shape, muscle tone, it was all here, everything that made Josh Manky so attractive to Kim. He took the synthodrone that he had made earlier, then one that already housed the brain wave patterns of Ron Stoppable, and quickly used the scans he had made of Josh as well, implanting a mix of the two minds, as well as using the form and body of the 'Golden' teen to make a very special synthodrone.

As he watched the inexpensive clone take form, his eyes were drawn briefly to the serial number, Nine-Oh-One. The blank faced, assembly line synthodrone slowly changed, his face becoming a bit taller, his jaw squaring up, taking a more masculine form than either boy the drone was designed off of. The skin changed colors, becoming a slightly tanned, healthy color, while his face seemed to shift in shape, his eyes, nose, and lips forming slowly.

While his face was taking shape, hair sprouted out of the top of his head, one, then two, four, then more and more, slowly covering his head with a solid brown, full head of hair, slightly wavy. As his face finished forming, his body adjusted, less of a body building look as the original synthodrone model, becoming instead a solid, athletic runner's body. Finally the finishing touches, and soon Drakken was looking into the surprisingly intelligent eyes of a specially made, perfectly constructed synthodrone, designed with only one purpose in mind.

The destruction of Kim Possible.

The drone blinked once, then twice, before focusing on the mad doctor. "Dr Drakken. Synthodrone 901, ready for whatever you need me to do, Sir."

Drakken cackled gleefully. He was perfect. He was... "Synthodrone 901, your new designation is...Eric. And I have a very special task for you..."

As he leaned in to discuss his plan to the synthodrone, he was already thinking about the future. It would still be weeks before his plan was ready, weeks before he would be able to even insinuate Eric into the life of Kim Possible-but until then, he needed training, training the doctor would provide. Combat upgrades, personality profiles, everything he would need to gain Kim's confidence, take her spirit, and then crush it is his grip.

It was going to be glorious.

* * *

_**A/N** One chapter to go to sum everything up._

_Also, the idea of GJ wanting to lock Ron up because of Zorpox really isn't new, I sort of borrowed it from another story I've read, Rabula Tasa's "The Prisoner Dilemma." Kim's discussion here with GJ will play a very key part in my sequel, when I get around to finishing and posting it._


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N** Final chapter. Thanks to Eddy13 for beta checking, and having the patience to wait the weeks it took me to get things together for him to read._

_I'll toss out a quick message here, and save the longer notes for the end of the story: if you write a review, I'll try to respond to you; that's sort of hard with anonymous reviews, though, so if you want a personal response, create an account, and I'll PM you a reply. And, that said, for Anon E Mouse-if you read the chapter over again, that wasn't Ron on the table..._

* * *

The weekend passed uneventfully for Kim and Ron. With no missions, and a lack of homework, the two teens were able to focus on trying to regain Ron's memories-with not much luck. They did plenty of activities that they normally do on the weekend, but there was always Ron's memory problem hovering over each event. Fortunately, Kim was able to remain pretty upbeat, figuring that he'd regain his memories anytime now, she just had to figure the right trigger. Even so, by the time Monday rolled around, she was feeling a little disheartened, but doing her best not to let Ron know.

The day for them started as it normally did. Ron made his way from his house to hers, meeting her an hour or so before school started. He arrived in time for his second breakfast of the day, quickly joining Kim's family at the table for the quick meal prepared by Anne. They ate and chatted together, with Kim, her parents, and the tweebs all discussing Ron in the hopes that it would jog some memories; all it did was leave Ron blushing at some of the things he had done.

Once breakfast was finished, the two teens quickly left, making their way to Middleton High School. It was a short walk, made a bit longer as Kim and Ron stopped twice to help people with simple problems. Fortunately, they still had plenty of time before school started, and made their way inside nearly fifteen minutes before the first bell. They walked around the building some, as Kim took care of some of her normal tasks, and finally the first bell rang, and they found their class.

School passed at a normal pace, slowed a bit by Barkin and his endless lectures. The two teens took notes-well Kim did-as they went from one class to the next. English, Chemistry, Math, their first classes of the day were simple and fairly boring for a Monday, something that relieved Ron. Finally their lunch period rolled around, and Kim sent Ron ahead to get his lunch, while the teen was sidetracked answering a few of Barkin's questions about the cheer leading team.

No sooner was Ron outside the class room, than he was approached on both sides. Tara quickly linked her arm inside his, grabbing him and giving him a tug, while Bonnie on the opposite side stood back a half pace, doing her best not to look disgusted at her friend's actions. The platinum blond, as chipper as ever, starting speaking almost immediately. "Ron! Perfect timing, are you heading for lunch?"

Wordlessly, he nodded, still a little hesitant around the pretty schoolgirl, and even more hesitant at her enthusiasm. He let the teen tug him along to the lunchroom, not resisting, but not really helping much, either. Once inside, Bonnie walked ahead of the two, rolling her eyes as soon as they couldn't see her. Tara, still bubbly at having Ron with her, was chatting non-stop about nothing. She pulled him along, then shoved him forward in the line, to get his lunch. He hesitated, turning and looking for Kim, but she wasn't here yet; he shrugged, and grabbed his food, following Bonnie through the line. He started to walk away and find a table, but Tara easily hooked his arm again, pulling him right after Bonnie.

Once sitting at the table with Tara, Bonnie, and her posse, he suddenly felt very nervous, like he'd just crossed an unspoken line. Giving a gulp, he looked around at the other people sitting around the table, and gave a slow, "Hi?"

He pretty much received stares all around, although Bonnie did her best to try and smile in support of her friend. Tara ignored the looks she was getting all around, instead focusing on Ron. "So, have you gotten any of your memories back yet?"

Ron looked at her, frowning, and shaking his head, "No, not really, I mean it sort of seems like I can remember, I just...can't." He gave a shrug at the question.

The platinum blond did her best not to smile and give a giddy squeal, instead nodding and trying to look serious. "I'm sorry, I'm sure that your memories of Kim will come back eventually." _I sure hope not!_

Bonnie decided that was her perfect opportunity, commenting idly, "Are you sure you want them to come back?" Ron jerked his head around to look at her. He narrowed his eyes, feeling very uncomfortable as Bonnie continued. "I mean, it's not like she's that great of a friend, is she?"

"What do you mean?"

The teen idly played with her food a bit, before giving a shrug, "Oh, you know, the way she treats you and everything. Look at the way she down right hated your Mad Dog routine." She conveniently left out that she had hated the routine even more than Kim, had actually managed to sway the red head's opinion against her friend. "Oh, but the fans loved it, they enjoy what you do as the mad dog, your prancing around, your antics, your..." Bonnie gave a light cough and continued, "...foaming mouth routine."

Ron frowned as Bonnie spoke, shaking his head a bit, remembering some of the event she was discussion. He remembered going to speak with Barkin about being the mascot, remembered designing the outfit, coming up with his routine, although certain sections of his memory were a blank, no doubt to Kim being there at the time. He shrugged again, shaking his head, looking over at Tara, seeming to trust her for answers.

While Ron was trying to remember the events, Tara had turned her head to look at Bonnie, frowning as well. Finally Tara seemed to understand what was going on, and she couldn't believe it. Bonnie was trying to help her out, but was in essence bad mouthing Kim, telling Ron about all the bad things that had happened between them. She was trying to ruin their friendship, just so Tara would have a shot at dating Ron-even though Bonnie absolutely hated him. She smiled as she realized the lengths her friend was going for her, but her doubts started creeping in. Was that really what Bonnie wanted-the goofy, kind, jokester that Tara had her crush on?

Or did she plan on changing him, turning him into something more befitting her status? Was she only going to this lengths, because she planned on making Ron like he had been before, when he changed his haircut-change him into someone high on the food change, a...well, snob, someone like Bonnie? Was that really what Tara wanted to happen?

And what about Kim and Ron's friendship?

As the platinum blond teen sat undecided, Bonnie continued bad mouthing Kim. "And what about the time that you made those millions of dollars off the Naco? You were going around, spending it on people, doing stuff, having fun, but she was there, the wet blanket, telling you not to spend it, hold it back, save it. She wouldn't even take any money from you, either, like it wasn't good enough for her."

By this point, Kim herself had finally made it into the cafeteria, only to freeze just inside the door as she realized where Ron was sitting. Monique, coming in right behind the teen, bumped into her back. She might as well have been running into a wall for all the reaction she received. The dark haired teen moved beside Kim and looked at her frozen face, before turning and following her gaze, giving a half gasp as she realized where Ron was sitting.

The gasp was finally what seemed to break Tara out of her stupor. The teen seemed to wince under the glare, the look of confusion and betray she received from Kim, imagined or not.

"No."

Bonnie stopped mid-sentence, while Ron, still frowning, looked over at Tara, unsure. The platinum blond teen continued, before she lost her nerve. "No, it's true, Kim might have done some things wrong as your friend, and you might have done things wrong back to her, too, but that doesn't make a difference. What matters is that there were more good times than bad, more things you did together than things that pushed you apart." She flashed a bright smile Kim's way, and finished, "Anything I can do to help you remember, just let me know. Now, why don't you go over and sit with Kim and see if you two can figure out any more of your memories, Ron." She gave the other blond a half push as she stood up, helping to lead him over to Kim. As Tara walked past, on her way out of the cafeteria, she received a small, relieved smile from Kim.

Z Z Z Z

As the weekend passed, Drakken worked on his plan, setting up a number of different research projects, working with his special made synthodrone, and figuring out exactly what he wanted his plan to do, and how he wanted everything to fall into to place. It was as he was working on these things that he realized a slight, small problem.

For his plan to work, he would need some sort of artificial intelligence system. Preferably something with some sort of combat or defensive experience. To that end, he had tried to design something himself; all he had succeeded in doing was creating a small killer vacuum cleaner that had come after him with a knife. He had quickly scrubbed the idea of creating an AI himself. While he hated to admit failures in any area, he was forced to realize: he couldn't design a robot to save his life.

Sure, he could create the systems for the robot, weapons, movement, actions and everything that made it go, but he had no luck when it came to programming; they all ended up being stupid, or trying to kill him, as his last attempt had shown. He rubbed his ankle, massage the scratch the killer vacuum had given him, thinking back to the Bebes he had created, and the distructo-bots that had taken another genius to create. Drakken may be a genius, but that didn't mean he knew everything, and time and again he had shown that complex robotic operating systems were beyond his grasp.

Shrugging to himself, Drakken decided to try another approach; he needed a robot that was able to think for itself, and be commanded from a central server, a sort of hybrid of the Bebe's system, and the destructo-bots. Now where could he find something like that? He sat as his lab station, doing a quick search-if he couldn't design it himself, he'd just...outsource it.

The first hit from his search netted him Mr Freeman, the robotics expert that had helped him with his destructo-bots. As Drakken looked over the information, he shook his head, frowning. The other genius was currently working on a project for Global Justice, and was under very tight security-not impossible to defeat, but very difficult, and it would be sure to tip GJ off to his plans, not to mention Kim Possible. He closed the file, doing another search, seeing what else came up.

Three more names appeared on his list, all located in Middleton. He read down through them, looking at the names before he performed a deeper search on each. Mrs Renton, Fen, V. F. Porter. He called the first woman up, wondering briefly why the name seemed familiar. As a picture of the woman appeared, with her son sitting in a wheelchair in front of her, he gasped and nearly fell out of his seat. It was the woman that had designed the wheelchair Drakken had stolen on one of his more recent take over the world ventures. He still had the plans that he had stolen from the boy's chair, so he realized that he probably wouldn't learn anything new if he did kidnap her. He mentally marked her off the list, calling up the next one.

As Drakken open the file up on Fen, he gave a small smile, as the first thing on his file listed him as being in prison. That was promising; if the other man was a villain that he could work with, it would be even easier to get the expertise he need, without being forced to kidnap. Not to mention, breaking a fellow villain out of prison would be a plus in his book. As he read more about the man, though, he started frowning, before closing the file in disgust. Not only was the man a liar, he was a complete buffoon when it came to robots-a sham, and a total waste of time. Growling, he flipped to the last person on the list.

To his surprise, the information on the last woman actually linked to Fen, the last man he had checked. As he looked things over, he started smiling, finally getting the full story. Fen may have been a scam artist and a liar, but his assistant had been a genius in robotics and Artificial Intelligence-had actually been the driving force behind him. He had stolen her research and ideas, presented them as his own, and had been lauded as the world's newest robotics expert. Vivian Porter, though, had been the genius, and it hadn't taken long for Kim to get involved. She had foiled the man's plot, and Dr Porter had been installed at the science center in his place. She had continued working on her AI systems there.

Grinning, Drakken looked things over further, then called Shego into his lab. The villainess was there in a few minutes, ready to do his bidding-a few small, snide comments aside. He quickly explained what he wanted her to do, what he wanted her to steal, and she had nodded, agreeing, getting the info she needed, then setting out. Drakken leaned back in his chair, sitting for a handful of seconds, before deciding to work on some of the other details to his plan.

He started a search to determine when and where Nakasumi would be over the next few weeks. Drakken wanted to be ready to strike when the time came.

Z Z Z Z

Ron followed Tara, a bit confused about what had just happened. He hadn't really like the way that Bonnie was talking about Kim, but at the same time, he could tell that she was telling the truth, at least partly, that Kim had done some things to him, that she hadn't been the best friend that she possibly could. At the same time, though, he doubted that he'd been the perfect friend to Kim, either.

He stopped near Kim, as Tara left the cafeteria, looking at her a bit uncertainly. Kim looked back at Ron, before giving a brief smile, "I'll be right back." She left, with Monique following, and the two teen got their lunch, then came back, quickly grabbing a table to sit at, while Ron went over and sat next to Monique. The three teens sat in silence for a few seconds.

Ron finally seemed to realized all the things that Bonnie had said about Kim, all the ways she had insulted her rival, and the blond suddenly felt ashamed for listening to any of it. "I'm sorry, Kim, Tara just wanted to talk and everything, but then Bonnie did her things." He shook his head, apologizing again, "Sorry Kim."

She shook her head back at him, "It's not your fault, Ron, you know how she is." She stuttered for a second, mumbling something about Ron's memory, before continuing, "Don't let her get to you, she just hates it when she doesn't get her way." Taking a deep breath, she sighed, blowing the air out quickly as she tried to pull her mind away from her rival. She looked up, finally seeming to realize where Ron was sitting. "What are you doing over there?"

"Here?" Ron looked around, then down at himself, twisting in his chair, "Um, sitting?"

The redhead shook her head, "No, what are you doing over there?" She patted the seat next to her, smiling, "This is where you always sit, this is your seat, right next to me. Monique always sits on the other side, right?" Her friend nodded, and Ron looked at the two other teens, finally getting up and sitting beside Kim hesitantly. His friend smiled back at him warmly, "There, see, perfect. Always remember, that's your seat, and no one can sit there."

Ron nodded, giving a hesitant smile back.

X X X X

As Tara left the cafeteria, she tried to force down her disappointment.

She wasn't so much disappointed at Bonnie for what she's done, because the brunette has been trying to help her in her own way-at least partly. Tara was smart enough to realize that Bonnie had been doing it for her own ends, too. No, she was more disappointed at realizing that her crush was reciprocated, that as much as Ron seemed attracted to her, he would always chose Kim first. Tara finally understood now, it didn't matter how much she liked Ron, he would always be too focused on Kim to realize the feelings she had.

Tara was so focused on her disappointment, and her realization, that she barreled directly into a teen coming into the lunch room. She started to fall backwards, giving a soft gasp, but the person she'd hit managed to reach out and grab her, keeping her from falling. He pulled her forward, helping to get her back on her feet, unconsciously pulling her a bit closer as he assured himself she was alright. Tara looked up and blinked at the boy, suddenly giving a bright smile, "Thanks."

Jason Morgan grinned back, finally letting go. "No problem. You looked a little preocupied there, anyway, sorry to bump into you."

The blond teen looked up at him. She had seen him around the school pretty often, but had never really paid him much mind; she was too focused on Ron, or Josh, or any of the other guys that topped her list of hotties. For some reason, though, Jason seemed to catch her attention today, and she really looked at him-he was pretty handsome. And, according to what she'd heard from some of the other girls, he was a pretty caring, considerate guy. Not unlike Ron. Tara brushed a bit of hair out of her face. "I'm the one that should be sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Too focused on...something else."

He smiled back, "Always willing to lend an ear."

Tara linked her arm in his, pulling him back towards the cafeteria, "How about two?"

Z Z Z Z

It didn't take Shego long to make her way down to Middleton, one of Drakken's hovercars taking her there pretty quickly. She landed just outside the science center, before activating a small cloaking device in the vehicle. It made the hovercar vanish, and Shego was certain that no roaming security guards would find it.

The cloaking device had been designed by Drakken himself, and while not perfect, Shego had found it very useful on multiple occasions. The device kept the vehicle invisible to all visual wavelengths, as well as infrared, radar, and every other detection mode that she'd ever come across. The drawback, of course, was the immense power requirement; even a few hours could drain the battery entirely, and repeatedly turning it on or off could cause the cloak to overheat and melt. As it was, she knew she needed to be fairly quick with her infiltration.

Shego was, fortunately, still at the top of her game, and after a brief look around the area, she had figured out how she was going to get in without being seen. She vaulted her way up over some crates that she had hidden the hovercraft behind, rolling across the ground easily, coming up to her feet as she hid behind a pole while one of the security guards walked by. The villainess was just getting ready to sneak by, when the guard paused, lifting a radio to his mouth, reporting in. Shego winced as she heard his voice, the slight, high pitched grating making her shake her head. Waiting a few more seconds, he finally turned again, and the dark haired woman saw her opportunity, dashing across the concrete to the wall of the space center, looking upwards.

The outside of the building was fitted with duct work, pipes, the occasional window, and numerous handholds she could use. As she studied them, she heard a scraping noise, realizing that a guard was coming around the building behind her. She looked forward, ready to blend back into the shadows, but she spotted another coming her way. With the faintest of gasps, she looked back again, considering what to do.

Both security guards continued their patrol, passing each other, both nodded to indicate that nothing was out of order. As they passed, Shego, hanging above them, let out a small, relieved sigh. She had jumped up, just barely managing to catch a pipe above her head. She squirmed, then started swinging her body, hefting herself up until she was able to hook her knees into another pipe, spinning, using her hands to grab some duct work and pull herself up on top. From there, it was relatively easy to launch herself upwards, using hand holds and foot hold to make her way to the roof.

The villainess walked forward, looking around the roof to ensure that there were no cameras or alarms up here. Finally satisfied, she crossed the roof, flaring her hand up to cut through the grating on the ceiling. To her surprise, as she grabbed it, she realized it wasn't even latched. With an almost exasperated sigh, she quickly opened it up, and slipped into the space center.

Z Z Z Z

With the rest of the school day passing like normal, albeit much subdued because of the near fight in the cafeteria, Ron was given a chance to start thinking this over, what he had heard, the different things that had happened in the last few hours, and even days. The thing that bothered him the most, that confused him the worst, was just simply the way he felt about Kim. She was his best friend, he was sure of that, but at the same time, he felt like...

He didn't know what he felt like, he just knew that something wasn't normal between them, they weren't just 'friends' as she had been telling him. Holding his hand, sitting next to him, the way she seemed to focus on him so much, it didn't seem like natural friend-behavior to him. Then there was the fact that every time he looked at her, he got a butterfly feeling in his stomach. He was pretty sure that was _not_ a normal friend feeling.

As it was, school ended sooner that he was really ready, leaving him with plenty of doubts and questions, nearly as unsure now as the day he woke up and couldn't remember Kim in the first place. He was still frowning in thought when Kim told him that she was going to go to cheer practice, and that he could come along if he wanted. As he looked at her face, she smiled at him briefly, and he smiled back as well, seeming to come out of his funk.

"Actually, Kim, I think I'm gonna walk around a bit, get some fresh air, maybe work on some homework or something." She looked a bit disappointed, but nodded her head at him, so he was quick to add, "We're still meeting at Bueno Nacho later, right?" Finally she smiled again and nodded, before turning to hurry off to the gym.

Ron watched her leave, her hair flipping around as she dashed off, and it was only the fact that she went around the corner that he was able to blink and focus back on his problem. Shaking his head, he tried to decided what to do. Finally the teen figured that he had to have some questions answered, so he made his way to the Club Banana store at the mall. He figured that he could talk to Monique, since he was uncomfortable with asking Felix, and knew he couldn't ask Kim. The store wasn't too busy, but Monique was sorting clothes and taking care of other issues. When she saw Ron, she motioned him over, but continued sorting.

"Ron, hi. I'm kinda busy right now, CTW?"

"CTW? What's that supposed to mean?"

"CTW: Can this wait? I already told you I'd meet you at Bueno Nacho after I get some work done here."

"No, I mean it probably could wait, but I really want to know now, but I need to talk to you." Ron put it all out in a rush.

Monique sighed, and continued her sorting, not even looking at him. "Fine, Ron, let's hear it."

"Monique, I can't really ask Felix, and I can't ask Kim, so I have to know. We seem to do stuff together all the time, we go out, watch movies..." He looked uncomfortable, and stared at his feet.

"Yeah? Get to the point, Ron."

Ron looked at her and blurted out. "Were Kim and I dating?"

"WHAT?" Monique whirled on Ron so fast he stepped back and tripped over a clothing rack. He threw his arms up and grabbed the clothes to stop his fall, but he just pulled the clothes off the hangers. He landed on his back, and the clothes piled up on him. Monique stepped over and helped him to his feet, then quickly hooked the clothes back up.

Monique looked at him, and knew this was going to take a lot of explaining. "Ron, I'll be finished here in about fifteen minutes. Meet me at Bueno Nacho in thirty minutes, and I'll explain there. Kim won't be there for another hour, so that'll give us time to talk." She shooed Ron off.

He walked out of the mall more confused than ever. He'd expected her to deny it, to laugh in his face. He wasn't expecting the reaction he got. There was more going on here than he thought. As he made his way to Bueno Nacho, he didn't realized where he was going. He suddenly felt a sense of recognition and stopped, looking around.

It was the preschool, the preschool where he had met Kim. He sort of remembered the school, like a half forgotten dream; but no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn't picture Kim. He wandered out onto the playground and sat on a bench. He remembered running all over the place, chasing after a ball, talking with someone. He tried to focus on the person in his memory, but the more he tried, the less clear it became. He grimaced and tried to latch on to the memory, but his head started pounding. He growled in frustration, then looked out over the playground.

He knew that Kim was getting more and more discouraged. None of his memories were coming back, and he was beginning to doubt that they would. That would hurt Kim a lot, he didn't know if she'd be able to accept that for him, none of that had happened. Over the last couple of days, he'd gotten the feeling that there were things unspoken between them, things that he should instinctively know, but now couldn't remember. This playground was where it all began, but for him, it never happened. He looked out, anger and frustration warring in him.

He finally turned and ran.

Z Z Z Z

Shego landed lightly inside a supply closet. She had made her way inside the space center through the duct work, only briefly thinking about the irony of how she was sneaking in, so like how Kim always managed. With a quick shake of her head, she banished any distracting thoughts, and quickly slipped over to the door, grabbing the door knob and giving it a very slow turn, before hesitantly pulling it backwards, peeking one eye out through the door.

When she didn't see any guards through the door, she stuck her head out, looking down the halls, quickly ensuring that there weren't any guards or scientists nearby. There were, however, a number of security cameras that she'd have to avoid; most were pointed towards the entrance to the building, with a few focused on certain key sensitive areas. She knew she wouldn't be bothering with most of those areas, as they dealt with dangerous chemicals and such. She looked around one more time, before making her way out into the hall.

The green villainess made her way down the hall, having to secure herself in different places to hide from some of the security guards, and a number of scientists. Most of the time she was able to hide in the ceiling, or in the shadows, trusting in her dark green and black outfit to keep her disguised. She was nearly to her target, however, when the was again approached from two sides by security guards. After a quick scan of her area, she was able to slip into an unoccupied office. To her annoyance, the two guards paused outside the door to chat for a bit, and she was left in the darkened room, waiting for them to finish.

Deciding to see if she could find anything useful in the room, she let her left hand glow lightly, the green barely illuminating the room. She nearly choked as she noticed the picture of Kim and her family on the desk in front of her. The villainess blinked as she realized that she'd managed to hide herself in Dr Possible's office. A stroke of luck, or twisted irony, she couldn't decide which.

Shego went over to the desk, looking on the top to see if there was anything that she could steal. She didn't notice anything, but did some exploring in his drawers, as well as some nearby file cabinets. The lock was no match for her skills, but to her anger, she didn't find anything worth stealing. She may not be a scientist like Drakken, but she had learned a surprising amount of skills after working with the mad doctor-and from this, she knew most of the stuff she saw was useless. She was nearly finished when she noticed a small computer pad siting on the doctor's desk.

As the villainess tapped the screen with a stylus, she watched the computer launch up, displaying the science center logo, as well as a password screen. She tried inputting a few different passwords, before noting that the program locked itself down. She frowned to herself, shrugging, doubting it was very important. She looked out the window, noting that the guards were gone, and quickly grabbed the handle, slipping herself out of the room. She was here for some robot gadgets, software and stuff, and she knew that Dr Possible worked with rockets. She doubted his 'Hephaestus' project would be any use to Dr Drakken.

Z Z Z Z

Monique showed up right on time, and Ron was waiting at his usual booth. She knew this could get awkweird quick, but she took a deep breath, then went over and sat across from him. He looked up as she sat down. She tried to read his face, but it was a mask; she didn't know where to start, so she just jumped in.

"No, you weren't dating Kim."

Ron frowned, then asked, "If we weren't dating, then why didn't you just say that?"

"Well...you weren't dating, but you'd always been such close friends, it almost seemed like you were dating-I mean you were kind of a couple...but Kim never thought of you that way. And...you never really thought of her that way either-you've just been best friends forever."

Ron shook his head. "I'm not so sure about that, you know? I mean, when I look at her, I just...I don't know." He gave her a desperate look. "I can't remember her at all, but at the same time, I feel like there's something there."

Monique nodded. "I've seen it too-but it's like neither one of you want to admit it." She smiled, "I don't know if you remember, but when you and I first met, you were concerned that you were losing Kim, that I was her new friend, and that you wouldn't be friends with her anymore. That always came off as less friend-fear, and more _boyfriend_-fear. Wasn't until I'd gotten to know you two better that I realized you actually _weren't _dating."

The blond blinked, thinking this over. He still didn't remember any of that, but it did strike a chord within him, did seem like something he should remember. He frowned sitting back, but before he could say anything, Monique continued.

"I could site any number of other examples, but it wouldn't change the fact that there is something between the two of you, and honestly..." Her voice lowered a bit, and Ron leaned in. "...I think that's why Kim's been so off the last couple of days, because you've lost your memory and everything." She leaned back in the booth again, shrugging. "Whatever is going on between the two of you is only something you and Kim can figure out-and since _you _can't remember any of it..." She just waved her hands as she trailed off.

Ron hesitated a few seconds, thinking, before finally asking in a small voice, "Do...do you think she likes me?" He pressed on before the other teen could answer. "I mean does she like me as more than a friend?"

She opened her hands wordlessly and shrugged, before volunteering, "I don't know. But the better question, is do _you_ like her as more than a friend?"

Sitting back, Ron thought the question over. He really thought it over, spending a few minutes, then five, then more. The silence stretched on, and he suddenly looked up, at Monique, realizing that he hadn't said anything back to her. She just smirked back at him, and he frowned, before blurting out the first thing on his mind.

"Oh...okay, this is awkweird...so, how's work?"

Monique smiled slightly at his change of subject. "Doing really good." Then she frowned, "-except when you show up."

Ron looked sheepish. "Ha ha...ha" He laughed hollowly, but then gave a genuine smile when he saw someone come in through the doors. "Kim!"

She saw him waving and nodded back, but went to the counter first. She ordered her food, and brought it to the table. Kim slid in beside Ron, then looked curiously at Monique. She just smiled back, which made Kim even more suspicious. "So, Monique...get off work early?"

"Something came up." She said noncommittally. Monique knew Kim wouldn't really have a problem with what they had discussed, but she didn't want to add anything else to Kim's already strained composure. "So, girl, cheer practice go well? Any problems with Bonnie?"

Kim made a face. "She was her normal, charming self. A couple of the cheerleaders asked about you, Ron, and I told them how you were doing." Kim looked toward him.

Ron couldn't make eye contact. "Yeah, I um, I still can't remember...I'm sorry." He looked at Kim, and could tell it bothered her. She tried to keep smiling, but now it looked hollow and pained.

She tried anyway. "It's no big, Ron, they'll come back, we just need to help you remember the good times. I'm sure I can help you picture somethi-wait-I just got an idea." Her eyes widened. "Why didn't I think of this before-it's perfect. Come on." Kim grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the booth, all other thoughts forgotten. Ron barely managed to make an abbreviated wave before he disappeared out the door.

Monique just spoke to the table. "Y'know, that's the second time that girl's run out on me. She does that again, and I'll make sure she doesn't forget _me_."

Z Z Z Z

Shego gave a sigh of relief as she finally found herself just outside the room to the robotics lab. The security at the science center had been tougher than the had expected, leading her infiltration to take over an hour just to get this far into the building. She was able to gain entrance to the room easily enough, but she balked as soon as she got into the room.

The place was littered with hundreds of parts, spread out all over the place, making a mess of the floor shelves, tables, and even a number of chairs. She just stared, trying to decide where she should start. That decision was made for her pretty quickly, as she heard a scratching noise to her side. She turned, gasping as she was forced to jump back; a gray robot nearby had activated at her approach, and had taken an almost casual swing at her.

The villainess grimaced, before she put her hands up in the air. Even the robots in the lab were out to protect the science center! She jumped backwards again as it took another swipe at her, the jump spinning her around to land on the table behind her. The robot paused for a second, as its sensors tracked her, before the robot slashed forward with his arm, hitting the table, causing it to crack down the center. Shego, of course, had already dodged the blow, launching up and over the robot's head, landing behind it.

Shego raised her hand to slash the robot in the back, and destroy it, before grimacing again. She was here to capture the robot, or at least analyze; she was pretty sure that frying it with her glow power would make her infiltration a failure. As she stepped back again, she pulled out the device that she'd gotten from Drakken; the tool she held in her hand was a scanner that would be able to decode and copy the software of any robot system, and while she was happy that she's managed to locate a dangerous robot fairly quickly, she wasn't too pleased that it was trying to kill her.

What was even worse was that the device had to be placed _on_ the robot, making her problems even greater. She frowned, side stepping as it tried to hit her, she responded with her glowing hand, managing to block a second strike, although it jarred her hard. She winced at the hit, deciding that was probably not a good idea to try again. It swiped at her again, as she did a reverse handspring, bouncing backwards off the floor as she still dodged its attacks.

The villainess was driven back under the robot's rapid attacks, until it forced her against one of the walls. Shego reacted instantly, without thought, and managed to slip her way under the robot's crazy swing, finding herself close enough to pin the sensor under the robot's arm, starting its scan. After that, she was again forced on the defensive as the robot chased her across the room. She did her best to avoid all of its attacks, before she heard a voice calling into the room.

With wide eyes, Shego looked around, trying to figure out if there was somewhere she could hide. She considered under a desk, or somewhere nearby, but knew the robot would follow and catch her, or at least alert the other person. Finally, she knew she had only once choice, dashing sideways, over to the wall, jumping upwards, she managed to catch a glowing hand in the wall, instantly cutting her glow power to give her a handhold. She lifted her other arm, powering her glow to slash the wall again, cutting a number of handholds.

Finally, she felt she was high enough that she was out of the reach of the robot, as well as being out of the normal line of sight of anyone that came in to the lab. Not a moment too soon, either, as she heard the voice get louder, followed a few second later by a blond woman, coming into the lab. The woman gave an exasperated sigh as she saw the mess in the lab, and the robot still moving around, no doubt still seeking Shego, but unable to reach her now due to the villain's height above the ground.

Dr Porter shook her head, "I thought we'd fixed all the bugs in your programming." The robot paused at her voice, before turning and making its way towards the doctor. She grimaced again, then pulled a remove off one of the nearby table, hitting a button that caused the robot to slouch. Shaking her head, she crossed the room, still talking to her robot, "Guess the 2.0 software still has a few bugs, but we can fix those can't we?" Practically cooing at her robot, she walked over to it, rubbing the top, and shaking her head, "First thing in the morning through." she walked past the robot, then out the main doors that Shego had first come in.

Once the woman was gone, the villainess dropped to her feet, and made her way over to the robot. Still wary, she approached carefully, wanting to ensure that it was off line. As she finally reached arms length, she gave a sigh, closing her eyes. A lucky break that the other woman had showed up when she did. Shego slipped her hand under the robot's arm, and grabbed the device she'd attached, pulling it off, noting that it had downloaded all the data she needed. She smiled.

Time to leave this place.

Z Z Z Z

Kim ran all the way back to her house, dragging Ron behind her. By the time they got there, Ron was exhausted, and he pulled away to collapse on the couch. Kim was halfway up to her room before she realized Ron wasn't with her. She went back into the living room, and saw him laying there. His face was flushed, his eyes closed, and he was wheezing. Kim almost took pity on him, but the excitement took hold again, and she walked over to the couch. She grabbed the side and heaved it up, and Ron rolled off onto the floor-he let loose a brief cry, then thumped down.

That was enough to shock him into standing back up, and he turned to Kim, surprised and hurt. "Kim, why would you do that?"

"Come _on_, Ron, I've got an idea." She was bouncing up and down, and she grabbed his arm again. She pulled him up stairs, into her room, to her computer. She sat him down, then went over to her bookcase. She pulled out a small case with a picture of them together, then went back to her computer. Kim pulled a disc out of the case, then placed it into the disc drive, and watched as the program booted up.

Kim had created two cyber scrapbooks for Christmas last year, one for her, and one for Ron. Now she was glad that she'd kept them updated. She watched as shots of their life played across the screen, starting in Pre-K. Ron took it all in, his eyes never leaving the screen. Swimming, playing, Halloween, Christmas, school, it was all there. Every major event in their lives, all the things they had done together.

Suddenly it was as if a floodgate had been opened in his mind. He saw the images, then they came to life, telling him the story of their friendship. He remembered-he remembered...one image stuck in his mind. Ron was standing at Kim's locker, she was directly across from him. Something about her seemed off, but it wasn't anything he could put his finger on. She was looking at him strangely, a big grin on her face. Suddenly she leaned in close, wrapped her arms around him, then kissed him. Ron could have died a happy man right then.

Ron remembered the feeling after the kiss, the shock, but then contentment and happiness. _She's_ _actually falling for me. _Just as soon as Ron had this thought, something seemed wrong. _She's falling for _me? _This is way too random to be natural...or am I just afraid of where this could lead_? Ron remembered getting into Barkin's house and discussing things with him, then making a decision. She couldn't have a crush on him-every time she had a crush, she totally freaked out-this was different, which confirmed his decision. He remembered breaking up with her at the fair. It had been the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. If felt like someone was digging his heart out of his chest-using a spoon. But he'd do anything for her, even if it hurt him. And then he'd found out that she hadn't been falling for him, it had just been a moodulator-she hadn't felt anything.

_Or had she_ ? Ron thought about the last couple of days. She'd been spending as much time with him as she normally did, but things seemed different. She sat by him instead of across from him at Bueno Nacho. They had shared the popcorn at the movie theater. She had tried cooking for him (his stomach cramped at that thought). Anytime they went anywhere together, she held his hand to lead him around. She'd done things for him that was more like what a girl would do to a boyfriend instead of a best friend. _Could she be falling for him again, or was she just feeling guilty_?

Ron wondered if he dare take the risk again. What if things went wrong? What if he was reading into things too much? This wasn't something that she could just brush off with an "it's no big." Or even worse-what if she did-could he look at her the same? No-he wouldn't risk it. Their friendship was too important to risk over a long shot like that.

All of Ron's thoughts happened in a heartbeat, so fast that Kim didn't have a clue what was going through his head. She continued to hover behind him, trying to watch him and the screen at the same time. Ron was glad that she didn't know the decision he had just made; he knew he would never tell her. Ron felt a single tear trail down his face, to drop on her desk. He stood and turned to her-he knew he had to say something. "Kim..._KP_...I remember."

She let loose a brief cheer, then wrapped her arms around him, giving him a bone-breaking hug. He gasped, and she released her grip-a little. Ron didn't want the hug to end, even though he couldn't breathe. Finally she released him, and he dropped heavily in the chair. He sucked in air greedily, then looked at Kim uncertainly. _What now_?

She grinned widely, then grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet. Ron had just enough time to think _here we go again_ before he was dragged out of her room.

X X X X

Since Kim wanted to tell Monique first, they rushed all the way back to Bueno Nacho. Fortunately, she hadn't left yet, or Ron would have been dead from exhaustion by the time they found her. Kim slid into the booth next to Monique, babbling rapidly, while Ron gasped and barely made it to his seat. He just flopped forward, his stomach and upper body on the cushion, his knees still on the ground. Monique was a little shocked at Ron's condition, and even she couldn't make out what Kim was saying. Finally Monique's frustration came to the front, and she grabbed Kim and shook her hard.

By the time Kim's eyes stopped rattling, she was breathing normal and ready to explain. She gave a sheepish grin, then told her all about what they'd done, how they'd got Ron's memories back. As soon as Monique heard this, she started talking, Kim kept talking, and soon Ron couldn't distinguish what was being said. He looked at the two ladies, saw they weren't really paying attention to him, and made his way to the counter to order. Ned got him his food, wished him a 'muey-bueno day,' and Ron went to sit back down.

Fortunately it looked like they had finished talking. Kim was still excited, in an "I want to tell the world" kind of way. Ron just prayed that she'd wouldn't want to tell her dad and mom immediately-he wasn't sure he could take the three mile run out to the Middleton Space center.

As Ron looked up, though, into his best friend's excited face, he realized he'd follow her anywhere.

Z Z Z Z

Drakken smiled as Shego handed him the scans that he needed. They were perfect, exactly what was called for, and he knew that everything was on schedule now. He still had plenty more of his plan to take care of, though, so he thanked Shego, then turned back to his work. He was going to be quite busy for the next few weeks...

Z Z Z Z

It had been a few weeks since Ron had gotten his memories back, and everything had basically returned to normal. Kim and Ron had to deal with a few missions here and there, while still dealing with their schoolwork. Overall, they'd been kept pretty busy with Kim getting ready for the prom, and Ron helping.

And yet, nothing was the same anymore. After what Ron had gone through those few days without his memory, everything had changed. He was looking at Kim in a completely different way. After the way she had treated him, the things that they had done together, he couldn't get her out of his mind; and not in the normal way.

Ron had always spent almost every waking hour with Kim, doing all their varied activities, so it was natural that he would think about her a lot. What wasn't natural was the way he was thinking about her now. He stole glances at her during school, on missions, when he was sure she wasn't looking. He followed her around for just the slightest chance that she'd focus on him for any amount of time. Talking, helping, even getting yelled at, as long as she was with him, he didn't care. He was like a lovesick puppy, wanting any attention, be it praise or scolding.

Most of the time, it was both.

The situation might have continued like that indefinitely, Ron following Kim around, with the red haired teen never realizing her friend's feelings, except for one key event...

Z Z Z Z

Drakken looked over his research data, studying his plans, noting that everything was on schedule. He turned in his chair, hitting the intercom nearby.

"Shego. It's time. Bring me Nakasumi..."

* * *

_**A/N** Well, there we go, last chapter, leading right up to So the Drama._

_Ideally, I'd liked to have made this a lot longer, and done some exploring more about Kim/Ron and dealing with his memory loss, and their friendship; that, however, would have easily doubled or tripled the length of this story, not something I really wanted; that said, I may go back and rewrite this in the future some time, but that'll be a long ways off._

_I'm still no where close to being finished with the sequel to Stratagem, so that'll be a ways off, although I've started trying to get it together, getting it beta checked, and writing on it, so we'll see how long that all takes. I do have one more story I'll be posting, starting next week, sort of continuing from this one, exploring what GJ was doing the Night of the Diablos. I'll say this; I don't figure that Dr Director and Will Du were sitting and twiddling their thumbs while Kim was attacking Drakken head on._


End file.
